


Cover Your Crystal Eyes

by LoveReading



Series: Crystals [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Family Drama, Naboo - Freeform, Pregnancy, Reylo - Freeform, but happy reylo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveReading/pseuds/LoveReading
Summary: Recently retired Senator Leia Organa moves to Naboo to be closer to her brother Luke. What will happen when she bumps into her estranged son Ben?
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Crystals [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138823
Comments: 124
Kudos: 374
Collections: Ijustfellintothissendhelp





	1. Lost in Skies of Powdered Gold

**Author's Note:**

> I've been fiddling with some story ideas and this one stuck. Ben's relationship with his family is a fascinating one, a difficult to capture mix of misunderstandings, poor choices, and still loving them. This is my take on it.
> 
> Most of the story will take place in Theed on Naboo. I created my own mashup universe. It's a mix of Star Wars planets with concepts of Earth society.
> 
> The title and chapters are inspired by the Of Monsters & Men song "Crystals", which is part about not seeing how things really are because you're looking through crystals and part being afraid of vulnerability. I think it suits the Solo/Skywalker family dynamics perfectly.

Leia took a sip of her vanilla latte. She was trying out a new cafe this chilly morning and so far, this warm beverage and cozy corner suited her just fine. She had recently retired from her position as Alderaan's senator and moved to Theed on Naboo. Han was running around the galaxy with Chewie in the Millennium Falcon doing who knows what ever since they separated years ago, though she still saw him occasionally, so it didn't matter to him where she lived. She also wanted to live closer to her brother Luke, who lived just outside the city running a martial arts school and took in foster kids. Moving here had absolutely nothing to do with her son living somewhere on this planet. She most definitely did not look him up on the holonet to see if he was listed on any company profiles. She for sure did not discover her estranged only child worked for a law firm in this city. It's not like it would be easy to find him here, if she were hoping to accidentally bump into him, which she wasn't.

The bell above the cafe door chimed as customers slowly trickled in and out. The city always seemed to be alive with activity no matter the time of day being Naboo's capital and all, but Leia must have found that small perfect quiet time between not too early and not too late in the morning. Leia took another sip from her drink, looking away from the window next to her and to the customers waiting at the counter. A tall man with thick black hair wearing a navy suit stood next to a woman, her dark brown hair pulled into a bun on top of her head. They must have been together, because her face was tilted up towards his with her smiling lips forming words Leia could not hear. A moment later, the man turned towards the woman next to him, holding out one of the cups he took from the barista to her, which she took with a smile before leaning up to kiss her companion. The man pulled away, face pulled into a big grin as he regarded the woman in front of him. Leia could make out moles dotting his face and dimples... moles and dimples she would recognize anywhere, even with the facial hair covering his chin and upper lip. Probably to hide his slightly crooked mouth like he hid his ears under his hair. 

Leia got up from her table, cup forgotten. Time seemed to stand still from the moment she saw this man, but it was really no time at all and now here she was standing right next to him. "Ben?" 

The tall man who certainly had to be Ben turned his head to the much shorter woman suddenly next to him, smile turning into a frown. "Come on, Rey." He took his companion's hand and pulled her to the entrance.

"Ben!" Leia couldn't let him go, his reaction to her confirming her suspicion. "Wait!" She put herself between him and the exit, holding her arms out in front of herself to stop him.

"Can you just?" Ben's shoulders slumped. "We have to go."

Leia shifted to her right when Ben made a move to go around her, causing the woman whose hand he was gripping to stumble and clutch her cup to her chest. "I just want to talk. It's been so long." 

The last time Leia saw her son, he was begging her to come home to Chandrila after a big fight with his uncle. It was something about Ben once again injuring a classmate in a spar, which turned into yet another screaming match between nephew and uncle. Ben complained that he hated living there and his uncle was too hard on him. Leia encouraged him to finish out the school year on Naboo as he was almost done, then he could move into student housing at Theed University as planned. It was _the place_ to study law and politics on Naboo and therefore extremely difficult to get into. Ben had been thrilled at the thought of attending. Leia was so proud of him, thinking his time living with Luke helped him to achieve the great things she knew he was capable of. As a child, he had always been bubbling over with unstable energy. A change in scenery and maybe learning martial arts from Luke would be good for him. Or so she thought. She never expected the last words Ben spoke to her to be, "I'll never forgive you." He never moved back to Luke's, he never went to Theed University, and she hadn't heard from him again. Until now.

Brown eyes swimming with pent up anger glared at her. "Whose fault is that?" Ben spat out angrily, gone were the happy dimples. Leia was in desperate need of answers. What took his dimples away? He couldn't still be mad about her siding with Luke.

"What's going on?" asked the young woman next to him, taking a sip from her cup and shifting her eyes between the other two. How much had Ben told her about his family? About why he seemed to have dropped into a blown up Death Star?

Ben let go of her hand to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "I'll tell you later, sweetheart. But right now I need to get you to the greenhouse." He looked back at Leia with an expectant _get out of my way_ look.

Being a planet full of natural plant life, greenhouses were plentiful here due to the high demand of florals and fresh foods on the ecumenopolis planets. These planets with cities sprawling across the entire surface had very little to no natural land left for growing anything, relying on imports to supply their markets and small gardens scattered around to give citizens a feeling of a bit of natural green life. Naboo couldn't grow its lush greenery fast enough, the wealthy quick to pay the highest price. Leia wondered as she regarded this young woman with her son if she worked in one. She was dressed the opposite from Ben in dark leggings, a long sandy colored tunic and matching arm wraps, a glittering ring on her left hand which was resting on... 

Leia's eyes widened before glancing at Ben's left hand that was wrapped around his own cup, noticing a band on his ring finger. "You're married? And you're expect—"

"Aaaand we're leaving...." Ben tried to sidestep her again.

"No!" She threw her arms out to the side this time. "I know it's been a long time and you probably don't want to see me..."

Ben scoffed.

"But," Leia continued, persistent, "please, Ben. I miss you."

Ben pursed his lips thinking a long moment before replying, "It's too bad you didn't think of that before you sent me to Luke's. I'm not doing this. We need to go now." 

Ben never wanted to live with his uncle and he had made that known after that fight with his uncle when he returned from visiting her on Chandrila to Naboo, setting his uncle's school on fire. 

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Leia pleaded with him as he walked past her, "but wasn't burning down your uncle's school a bit dramatic?"

Ben didn't answer, continuing to the door. Leia didn't try to stop them this time. Feeling defeated, she turned around after the door chimed signaling their exit and looked out a window. Theed was a beautiful city with its domed buildings and tree lined streets, but she was more focused now on the couple hurrying down the street. It looked like the poor woman... Rey, Leia remembered him calling her.... struggled to keep up with Ben's long strides. They had to be married, judging by the rings, and she had to be pregnant with her son's baby. Her grandchild. And quite far along too. Leia choked back a sob. She was about to become a grandmother and her own son hadn't spoken to her in over 10 years, still didn't want to speak to her. And now her chance to make amends was rushing away from her. Would he come back? Leia walked slowly back to her table in the corner, sitting down and taking a sip of her latte. It had gone cold. Short of going to his place of employment and angering him further, she knew her chances of accidentally bumping into him again in this city were slim. This cafe was her only hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	2. In This Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My little tidbits in future chapters became a whole flashback chapter. They just weren't working out right and it felt rambly, so presenting the day Ben and Rey met!
> 
> Nothing is underage in this story. Rey meets Ben when she is 18 and he is 28.

**3 Years Earlier**

"Stardust, are you here?" Jyn Andor called into the flower shop, Ben Solo following close behind. Their ship had just docked at Theed's space port that morning and after a quick rest, Jyn insisted on taking Ben to meet her daughter where she worked at a greenhouse. Why this couldn't wait until dinner, Ben didn't know. He suspected she was plotting to keep him from sulking.

Jyn and her father Galen Erso had been on Coruscant, where Ben was living, for a convention on crystallography when they insisted Ben return home to Naboo with them for a visit. After all they had done for him since his uncle's martial arts school caught fire, he couldn't say no. Plus he was exhausted and hated his job in the small but growing First Order movement. What started as joining a club in college for centrists purely to anger his populist mother turned into a position as an enforcer with the First Order. Their leader Snoke had a much different view on law and order than Ben's law degree taught him. He was starting to think he wanted out, but felt so caught up in the life he created that he didn't know how.

"Hi, Mrs. Andor!" A young woman with black hair sat perched on a stool at the counter arranging cut flowers. "Rey's out back in her millaflower garden."

"Thanks, Rose. I want to introduce her to Ben. He's visiting from Coruscant," Jyn explained, stopping in front of the counter.

The woman named Rose waved. "Nice to meet you, Ben! Are you the same Ben who used to live with the Andors?"

"That's me. Nice to meet you too," Ben politely replied. 

Jyn backed away and gave Rose a wave. "I'm going to take him out, then. Can you come to dinner? We're going to have a little welcome party."

Ben opened his mouth to say something, but Jyn cut him off with a look.

"Of course I'll be there! I'll head over with Rey after work." Rose went back to placing flower stems in vases.

"Jyn," Ben started as they headed outside, "you don't have to do this."

"Nonsense." Jyn waved him off. "It will just be us, Rose, and maybe the Damerons. Do you still like nuna gumbo?"

"Um... yeah." Ben flushed at the attention. "That sounds great." Jyn made that gumbo, especially popular in Theed since it used meat of nunas from Naboo's swamps, at least once a week. Ben never considered it was probably because he loved it so much.

After Ben's mother told him he could not move home for the rest of high school, he didn't want to go back to his Uncle Luke's where he was miserable so he moved in with his best friend Hux and his adoptive parents. This girl Rey hadn't been living with them at the time. Jyn told him she and Cassian found her alone on Jakku on their return trip from Coruscant where they dropped him off for college. 

"Stardust!" Jyn called out as she waved to a woman sitting in a garden of orange and yellow flowers, even more of the same flowers creating a beautiful backdrop along the foothills of the mountains behind her. It almost looked like a sand dune.

Ben felt his breath hitch when she looked up, waving an arm wrapped in a sandy colored fabric.

"That's our daughter Rey. She grew this millaflower garden from only a couple plants she found forcing their way through our walkway a few years ago," Jyn told him, proud smile lighting up his face. Ben doubted his mother ever looked at him like that. "She was only 12 when she brought her plants to this greenhouse asking for help growing more," Jyn continued, "the staff took her on as an apprentice and now here she is." 

"Here I am!" Rey looked up from her spot right in front of them, hearing the very last bit of the conversation. "Who's this?"

"This is Ben, your brother's friend who used to live with us. Ben, this is my daughter Rey," Jyn introduced.

Rey stood up, brushing her hands off before holding one out. She had the most beautiful smile. "Hi."

Ben took her hand in his to shake, nearly jumping at the zing shooting up his arm. "Hi." Up close, he noticed a dusting of freckles on her lightly tanned cheeks.

"Soooo..." Rey took her hand back and looked away blushing. "I'm almost done here. Would you like me to show you around?" She looked up at him hopeful. "If you're not busy. I don't know what—"

"I'd love to!" Ben interrupted. "I mean, I could help out here and then you can show me around? I mean," he was glad his hair was long enough to cover his surely bright red ears, "if it's something I can help with? Not that I'm saying you need help, just—"

"I'd love to!" Rey interrupted this time. "I'm just weeding this patch. I can show you how."

"Ok." Ben smiled. He felt... happy.

"Ben, since you'll be a bit here, Rey can bring you home with her?" Jyn asked after a quiet moment of what must have been Rey and Ben smiling goofily at each other.

"Sure, Mum." Rey's eyes didn't leave Ben's. She plopped back down on the ground and patted the spot next to her. "Come sit."

Jyn gave him a knowing smile and squeezed his shoulder before she left. Ben watched her go then sat down on the ground next to Rey. 

Rey pulled out a little green thing from the dirt and held it up. "The weeds look like this. They're prickly, but not enough to hurt without gloves." She tossed it in a bucket and tugged on another. "Just pull from the base and it should come right out." 

Ben tried to copy what she did, but his weed snapped in half. He tossed the top piece in the bucket. "Why are you pulling these out? They're not very big."

Rey crawled forward a bit giving him a nice view of her— "If they get bigger, they could hinder the growth of the plants." She tossed a weed over her shoulder, missing the bucket. "It's not a problem with the ones growing freely in the valley over there, "She nodded towards the mountainside, "but these will be repotted and sold, so they need to be at their best."

Ben was too busy watching her backside as she worked, so he jumped when she was suddenly back in front of him smiling sweetly and prying a weed from his fingers.

"Are you ok?" Rey ran her fingertips over his cut red knuckles. "You're hurt."

"It's nothing." Ben swallowed a lump in his throat. "The pain helps me focus."

Rey frowned, not seeming happy with the explanation.

"I punched someone." Ben didn't know why he felt drawn to suddenly tell her things. He made sure to keep his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans all morning so Jyn and Galen wouldn't ask questions.

Rey patted his hand and stood up. "Come on. I have something I can put on that."

Ben stood up, taking her hand. Rey was the perfect height. Not too short, not too tall. Her forehead stopped right at his chin, perfect for kissing.

Rey did not let go of his hand as she led him inside to the med kit and applied a salve, she did not let go as he broke down about his mother not wanting him and accusing him of burning down his uncle's school, and she did not let go when he told her of his bad reasons for joining the First Order and the awful things they made him do. Rey understood, relating to his feeling of being alone, but explaining he wasn't alone anymore. Ben decided he was going to hold Rey's hand forever. 

A couple weeks later, Poe Dameron showed up on the Andor family's doorstep with a small black suitcase. Ben answered when he heard the doorbell, blearily rubbing his face at this early hour as he answered the door. "Hey, man. Did you have any problems?" Ben held the door open for Poe to wheel the suitcase inside. The pilot offered to fly to Coruscant to clean out Ben's apartment and pick up the things he hadn't packed for his trip.

"Nope! I even brought you something extra." Poe gestured out the door.

"Hey, kid!" Han Solo popped out from behind a bush.

"What the kark!?" Ben jumped back clutching his chest. He still kept in occasional contact with his father, but he hadn't seen Han Solo in years.

"Language, kid." Han squeezed his shoulder. "Who's the girl?" He nodded to Rey who was hovering around a corner. Ben hoped she put some pants on, but at least she had enough sense to put on one of his t-shirts. 

Rey's face flushed when she noticed the three men staring at her, but kept her bottom half hidden behind a wall. "Um, hi?" She wiggled her fingers in a wave.

Poe let out a low whistle. "Jyn and Cassian know what's going on here?" He waved a finger back-and-forth between Ben and Rey.

Ben cringed. "It just sort of happened? I'm looking for my own place now that I have a job...." he trailed off. He felt a bit bad about sneaking around with his generous hosts' daughter. Just a tad. They weren't hiding their entire relationship, only the more _intimate_ parts.

Rey must have snuck back upstairs either to put some pants on or hide better, Ben wasn't sure. He whipped his head around at the crashing force of his father ramming into him with a crushing hug. Ben pat his back awkwardly. 

Han pulled away after a moment, sniffling once and clearing his throat. "Ben, I...."

Ben's lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. "I know, Dad."

Han Solo might have let it slip the full extent of Ben and Rey's relationship at dinner that night, Rey might have gotten a stern lecture from her mother afterwards, and Ben might have moved out a few days later. But there was one thing for sure and that was Ben Solo starting to feel alive again. He didn't need a mother or uncle who gave up on him. He was never going to think on it again, no matter how often Rey reminded him not to say those _famous last words_.

"I'm telling you," Rey said one day, "your story isn't over with Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. You simply closed that chapter. The next one hasn't been written yet. One day, it will be." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and thanks to Wookipedia for info on plants, food, and other tidbits.


	3. Nothing Grows When It Is Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the current timeline from chapter 1.
> 
> I know Jar Jar isn't exactly popular, but a Gungan character briefly makes an appearance this chapter. BRIEFLY. They're on Naboo, after all. The name comes from an existing character because I had no idea what Gungan names are like.

"It was so weird, Rose." Rey walked up and down the row of seedlings, spraying them with a fine water mist. This room in the greenhouse was set up with a misting system that would water all the seedlings with a push of a button, but the employees walked the rows to manually water them once a day so they could check on their growth. "He told me we'll talk about it later, but why would she show up after all this time? And then have the nerve to say she misses him?"

Rose followed behind her rotating each seedling tray. "Are you sure that was his mom?"

"Who else would it be?" Rey shrugged. "He hasn't seen his family except for his dad in years, but he's pretty sure his uncle still lives here. It would make sense his sister would show up eventually."

"If that was her," she gave Rey a look not to interrupt, "how long has she been here? You haven't bumped into Luke, so why now?"

Rey hummed. "That's what's so weird. Ben's not exactly hiding. He's the only Ben Solo who comes up in a Holonet search."

"You think she sought him out?"

Rey turned her hose off and pressed a hand to her belly, her baby girl giving her a kick. She would be here in a couple months. Rey could never imagine sending her away. "She hurt him, Rose. She hurt my Ben. He didn't start that fire. That woman brought it up. It _had_ to be her."

"Aww, sweetie. Come here." Rose wrapped her arms around her friend, pulling away after a moment. "Do you think he'll talk to her? Explain what actually happened?"

When Ben left Chandrila following his trip begging his mother to let him stay home, he went straight to the Andors. Only a couple days later, Luke's martial arts school caught on fire. Being a prime suspect due to statements from Luke, the authorities brought him in for questioning. But the Andors had his back. Ben had been in their house when the fire took place and even allowed their property to be searched so Ben was quickly let go, but it didn't prevent the scathing message from his mother. Ben never answered it, but told his father where he was and that he wanted to be left alone.

Rey switched her hose back on. "She's probably not going to give up, which sucks because that's my favorite tea spot. Ben already told me we're never going back."

"What?!" Rose let out a huff. "That man.... You can't just tell a pregnant woman she can't get her favorite tea anymore."

"Right?" Rey giggled. "Will you go get it for me tomorrow? I don't think I want to see her either, but..." Rey paused thinking. "I am curious to hear what she has to say, ya know?"

"Tell me what she looks like. I'll go tomorrow at your usual time. Recon mission. You have nothing to worry about, if she's not there." Rose looked positively giddy at the idea.

Rey nodded. "That's true. Look her up on the Holonet. She was a senator so her picture is probably everywhere." 

"You're joking." Rose followed Rey to the next aisle of seedlings. Being so far along in her pregnancy, Rey had developed a bit of a waddle. "Are you ok walking so much?"

"No and yes," Rey answered, turning on the next hose. "I can't sit around all day." She didn't specify that her feet were getting sore and she didn't _want_ to sit. She wanted to keep busy.

"What's her name? The senator." Rose started turning the seedlings.

"Leia Organa." Rey jumped when Rose grabbed her by the elbow.

"The princess of Alderaan?" Rose looked up at Rey with wide eyes.

"I think it's in name only? Ben said the royal family doesn't do much. It's not a big deal. How do you even know about Alderaan's royal family?" Rey went back to misting the seedlings. Once these grew some more, the pallets will be sent to Coruscant, probably to some wealthy market in the sky so the rich could play at gardening.

"Becaaauuuuse, kings and queens? It's fascinating that some planets still have this." Rose gasped. "Rey! Do you know what this means? Turn that off a sec." Rose took the hose from Rey's hands, turning it off. "Ben's a prince! You married a prince. And your baby will be a princess."

"So what?" Rey crinkled her nose, taking her hose back. "Ben wants nothing to do with Alderaan and neither do I."

"I thought he was from Chandrila."

"That one too." 

"Reeeyyyyy," Rose stretched out her friend's name, "come on. It's so romantic! Your love story is like a fairytale."

"I don't think I would call it a fairytale." Rey misted the last few seedlings at the end of the row before turning off her hose and heading outside to the garden. 

"Sure it is!" Rose hurried after her. Even with the waddle, Rey was fast. "You both had unhappy childhoods, then the Andors took you in and you fell in love?" Rose looked around the valley of flowers before them. "A bit ironic how this valley resembles a desert." 

Rey rubbed her large belly. "Maybe Auntie Rose is right, Milla." 

"Of course I am!" Rose looked smug.

"I meant about the valley resembling a desert." Rey gestured to the mountainside, a floral version of the desert she grew up in.

"Whatever." Rose rolled her eyes. "Now, how exactly do you plan to bend over to dig up these flowers?" She pointed to the millaflower patch that needed separating and repotting.

Rey's shoulders slumped. "You're right. Um...." There were a lot of plants to be separated and she didn't have any other tasks planned for the afternoon, having already checked the seedlings.

"Miss Rey!" Augie, their Gungan coworker approached. "Yousa go prepare the pots!" She shooed Rey in the direction of the storage room. "Weesa take care of this!"

Rey gave no argument and waved over her shoulder, waddling back into the greenhouse. She grabbed stacks of biodegradable pots, piling them onto a cart and pushing it into a work room. This room was full of rows of benches and is where they took care of repotted plants before bringing them into the nursery to sell. Their orange and yellow millaflowers were very popular, the people of Theed often planting them in window boxes. They even sold plants to planets all over the galaxy to those who could afford the import price, of course.

Rey pushed her cart over to the tub of potting soil. Someone even placed a stool next to it. "Oh, Augie. Thank you." Rey sat down on it, sighing in relief. Her feet and back were more sore than she thought. Tears pricked at her eyes. 

"Rey?" Rose called after about 20 minutes, "Are you in here?" She pushed a wheelbarrow full of the brightly colored millaflowers into the room. "We got these dug up already so they just need to be separated and..." Rose trailed off when she saw Rey wipe a tear from under her eye. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Rey got up to get a pair of sheers, picking one of the plants from the wheelbarrow and snipping it apart. "I'm fine." She dug into the tub of soil and filled two buckets with it. "I'm fine," she repeated. "Just..." she blew out a breath. "My back hurts and Ben won't take me to the cafe tomorrow. My TEA, Rose."

"We talked about this, Rey." Rose filled her own buckets. "I'm going tomorrow to do recon AND get your tea, remember?"

Rey plopped back on the stool. "I think I'll stay home tomorrow and study for my pharmaceuticals class. Can you stop by before going to work?" Rey wanted to get a head start on a certification course she planned to take with Rose after she gave birth. Millaflowers produce an organic tranquilizer that is popular with physicians, but also criminals who used it to drug unsuspecting victims. High doses could do anything from intoxicate a person for hours to death, so Naboo law carefully regulates it. Rey and Rose needed to become certified in its extraction in order to work with the rest of the greenhouse team to produce it. Even the flowers themselves were carefully regulated, only going to rich governments who had professionals to care for them.

"Sure thing, miss pregnancy brain!" Rose gave her friend a half hug.

Rey flicked some potting soil at her. "Hey! Take that back!"

"No waaaay." Rose packed some soil around the plant she just placed in the bucket. "Don't you have buckets to fill, or did you forget already?"

Rey got off her stool, rolling her eyes. "I didn't forget." She placed some empty buckets on the table and began filling them. "Hey, Rose?"

"Yeah?" Rose handed two potted plants to a droid that was zooming around the room lining up the freshly potted plants.

Rey rubbed her belly where Milla gave it a kick of encouragement. "She saw that I was pregnant." 

"Who? The woman you saw this morning?" Rose dragged a couple of the filled buckets to her side of the table. "It's kind of hard not to notice."

Rey reached into the wheelbarrow for a plant, brushing clumps of dirt from the roots. "You know Ben. He's only going to worry more." She snipped the roots with her sheers and placed each plant half in a bucket. "Mum finds long lost son with pregnant wife? This is a recipe for disaster. He has to talk to her. She's never going to leave us alone and I need my tea!" 

"Rey," Rose paused her planting. "Look at me." She waited for Rey, who was now overfilling a bucket, to look up. "You'll get your tea. I promise."

Rey tilted her head regarding her friend a long moment. "And his mum?"

Rose added a scoop of soil to her bucket. "I don't know, Rey. I don't know." She put her scoop down, pausing to think. "Are you going to tell her about—"

"No!" Rey cut her off. "No, I'm not." She dumped some soil out of her overfilled pot.

"But, Rey...."

"No." Rey slammed her pot down. "It's up to Ben. He's probably hoping she'll leave and then she'll never find out. As far as she knows, there's only this one." Rey pressed a hand to her belly. Milla had been very active this late morning, kicking away. "And that's bad enough."

"What happened to you always saying Ben needed to face his mother head on _when_ she eventually shows up? Rey," she ran after Rey who was hurrying from the room, "get back here!"

Rey didn't stop and called over her shoulder. "Yeah well... That was before I saw her out of nowhere. I'm hormonal and pregnant and I need to pee!" She smacked her hand on the panel to open the fresher's door, rushing inside.

Rose nearly bumped into the door as it closed right in her face. "Well, Rose...." she said to herself, "this will end well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Making Waves in Pitch Black Sand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's fun figuring out what everyone would order at a cafe. Menu inspired by Wookipedia and places like Starbucks.

Luke took a look around the cafe his sister Leia brought him to. She appeared at his door yesterday, frantically knocking and in a panic about finding Ben. Luke couldn't quite believe it. The last time he had seen his nephew, Ben was 18 and setting his school on fire after he didn't get his way. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Are you sure it's even him? I heard rumors about him working for the First Order in the Unknown Regions."

Leia kept her eyes on the cafe door. "I'm positive. I already told you I spoke with him. Those rumors are a couple years old already."

"I don't know," Luke's foster son Finn spoke up. Technically _former_ foster son. Finn was aged out of the system, but teaching at the martial arts school. "This guy sounds like someone who wants to be left alone. If he was rumored with the First Order all the way in the Unknown Regions, he's probably still there doing their dirty work."

The door chimed again. This time it was a young woman with black hair, dressed in dark pants and sandy colored tunic with matching arm wraps. Luke recognized it as what most of the Theed greenhouse workers wore. His sister had mentioned the outfit in her description of the woman with Ben, his wife... Leia had specifically said, but this woman who came in was clearly not pregnant.

The black haired woman placed her order before moving down the counter. Luke wondered if she was meeting someone here because she kept looking around, her eyes pausing briefly on their table a couple of times.

"Rose!" Finn called out, waving to someone up front.

Luke looked up from his bantha chai, his favorite hot beverage made with blue milk and spices, to see the black haired woman nervously approach their table. She must have been looking for Finn.

"Hey, Rose! Getting some coffee before work?" Finn asked when Rose stopped right in front of them.

"Um..." Rose let out a nervous chuckle, holding out a cup. "No. I'm here for Rey's tea. She couldn't come this morning." 

Finn took an unnecessarily loud slurp through the straw of his vanilla and chocolate chip frappe, the most not morning beverage on the menu. "Why not? She ok?" 

"Rey?" Leia interrupted. Luke's ears perked up too. That's the name of the woman Leia referred to as Ben's wife. 

"Oh! I'm sorry. Rose, this is my foster father Luke," Finn pointed to the man across from him, "and his twin sister Leia," he pointed to the woman next to Luke. "She just moved here from...?" he looked at Leia expectantly.

"Hosnian Prime," Leia answered. It was currently the planet hosting the Galactic Senate after being on Chandrila for years following the fall of the Empire.

"Right!" Finn nodded. "Guys, this is my friend Rose."

"Ah! That Rose." Luke smiled at her. "Finn talks about you and Rey all the time. You went to school together, right?" He _really_ recognized the name Rey now, right in thinking he had heard it somewhere before. 

"Yeah," Rose answered. "Me and Finn did. I didn't meet Rey until I started working at the greenhouse." She looked at Finn, her wide eyes pleading to get her out of this conversation ASAP. 

"You should come by sometime," Luke suggested, stalling her so they could chat longer. "It's strange how I never met two of Finn's best friends after all these years." Strange was an understatement. If this was Ben's Rey, then what a small galaxy that Finn was friends with her.

"That would be.... nice. Thank you." Rose tapped the cup in her hands nervously. "I'm not sure if Rey could make it. She's married. And pregnant. And waiting for this tea!" She held up the cup. "And has a... I mean... No, I'm not supposed to say anything about that. Never mind! I should get going. It was nice meeting you!" She turned quickly and practically ran to the door, nearly bumping into someone coming in.

Luke sat back, stroking his beard. "That has to be the same Rey," he commented.

"What are you talking about?" Finn looked confused. "And why was that so awkward? Rose can be quirky, but that was weird even for her."

"Have you ever met Rey's husband?" Leia finally spoke up after being mostly silent during their chat with Rose.

"Ben? Of course I have. Loads of times. I don't think he likes me much? The guy's always tense around me." Finn shrugged.

Luke snorted. "Probably heard my name and wants to flee."

"Okaaaaaaay." Finn looked back-and-forth between the twins. "What am I missing? How do you know Ben?"

Leia took a sip of her vanilla latte before answering. "Ben's my son. Luke's nephew."

"Ohhhh SHIT!" Finn smacked a hand over his mouth, but no one noticed his outburst. He leaned forward to whisper, "The nephew with anger issues who set Luke's place on fire?"

Luke saluted Finn with his bantha chai. "That's the one!" He took a sip, looking out the window by the table. It looked like it might rain soon, gray clouds rolling in to match his current mood, but at least the drink was good. His nephew had good taste in cafes.

"Luke," Leia touched his arm to get his attention. "What if we're wrong? He looked so angry when I brought it up yesterday. The fire."

"When has he ever not been angry?" Luke thought back on what he remembered about Ben. He unfortunately inherited both Han and Leia's most explosive characteristics. Quick to fight, quick to argue. Headstrong like his mother, rebellious like his father. Otherwise he tended to be quiet and kept to himself studying in his room or practicing his calligraphy. Luke still had some of the scrolls he made hanging in his house. Ben was a smart kid who needed help focusing his energy. Neither Leia nor Han were around enough to do it, especially Leia. Han stopped by often to visit his son while on his adventures doing who knows what, but Leia was fighting tirelessly to protect planetary sovereignty in the Senate. She was constantly traveling between her homeworld Alderaan, the planet she was representing, and Chandrila, where the Senate was based at the time and where the Solos kept their home 

"Um, all the time?" Finn mumbled around his bite of muja fruit muffin. The sweet fist sized reddish orange muja fruit grew on trees all around Theed. There wasn't a cafe around the city that didn't serve baked goods made with it, the juice also a Theed breakfast staple.

Leia placed a napkin on her lap. "What do you mean? Didn't you just say he's always tense?"

"Tense, yeah. Angry? Never." Finn brushed some crumbs from his fingers. "Are we even talking about the same guy?"

Luke looked at Leia and voiced the next question both of them were thinking. "What's Rey's last name?"

Finn looked from Luke to Leia then back to Luke, muffin halfway to his mouth. "Solo. Rey Solo."

Luke sipped his bantha chai, thinking a moment. He was remembering something else. If this was Finn's Rey, then.... "Doesn't Rey have a kid?" 

"Oh yeah." Finn slurped too loud from that damn straw again. "Why?"

Luke put a hand on Leia's arm to steady her, though she was as still as a statue so it didn't really matter. "How old? Is the kid—"

"Ben's? Oh, for sure." Finn was always really horrible at reading a room, so he missed Leia somehow freezing even more in place. "He's about two now? Looks just like his dad. Rey's been with him since I met her. With Ben, I mean...."

Leia let out a strangled sob that drowned out the rest of Finn's rambling, dropping her cup and spilling the liquid inside.

"So _of course_ he's Be— Ohhhh shit!" Finn grabbed a wad of napkins, reaching across the table to dab at the puddle of latte. "Sorry sorry. Did I say something?"

Luke kicked him under the table.

"I have to go." Leia abruptly stood up, knocking over her chair in her hurry to leave. She took the same path to the door as Rose, right down to also almost bumping into someone on her way out.

The bell chimed as the door closed, a low rumble of thunder in the distance. 

"Um...." Finn broke the ominous silence following the thunder. "What just happened?"

It was getting darker both inside and outside the cafe. Luke stood up and righted Leia's knocked over chair. "I should go check on her." He could see her from the window by their table sitting on the ledge of a fountain. "I'll be right back."

"Ok, but hurry up before it storms." Finn reached for another muffin and bit into it.

Luke made it out the cafe door without incident, quickly heading the short distance to the fountain. The wind was starting to pick up too and the lanterns hanging along the street were beginning to click on one by one. "We should get back inside before Finn eats all the muffins," Luke said as he took a seat next to his sister.

Leia was quiet a moment. "I wonder where he lives." Her eyes that were glistening with tears slowly bounced around the area. "It has to be nearby. Why else would he come to _this_ cafe?"

Luke took her hand and squeezed. "Let's not worry about Ben now. We can't do anything about it until he comes to us. He knows where we are."

"I know, I know." Leia shook her head. "I've been so desperate and I _know_ looking for him more than I already have would make it worse, but... What if I made a mistake all those years ago?" She looked up at the sound of a small rumble of thunder, clouds flashing with still distant lightning. "Why would he hide his life from me for over 10 years?"

"Ben's going to do what Ben's going to do and you know it's always a blazing ball of glory when things don't go his way." Luke smacked his hands on his knees and stood up. "We might be better off _not_ seeing him. You ready to go back in?"

Leia didn't move. "Finn said _'He looks just like his dad.'_ I want to meet him." She wiped a single tear that fell from her eye. "My grandson. I'm a grandmother, Luke, and my son never told me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen quite a few fics where Rey hides the baby from Ben, but not many hidden from Leia? I hadn't planned a kid when I started writing this story, but then they got carried away when they met in chapter 2 and here we are. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. In Spite of All My Fears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Rose again this chapter. Rose needs to drop off the tea! Ben's coming up next chapter.
> 
> I think some of the dialogue might be pushing the Teen rating limits, so I upped it to Mature (just in case).

Rose practically ran out of the cafe, mumbling an apology to the customer she almost rammed into on the way out the door. Thankfully unspilled tea in hand, she made her way at a much slower pace to the Solo house. It wasn't very far and Rose enjoyed the walk, relishing the peace out here now that she was safely out of the cafe. But storm clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up, so she wanted to get Rey her report and tea fast.

The doorbell barely rang and suddenly there was Rey swinging the front door open. Her gray outfit matched the sky. "Hi, Rose! Come in." She held the door open so Rose could step in then shut it behind her. "How was it? Was she there?" 

Rose handed Rey her tea. "That was Leia Organa, alright. She looked like all her pictures, just like you said."

Rey moaned after taking a sip of her spiced nysillim tea. "I looooove this." She looked down at Rose's shoe covered feet. "Aren't you staying?"

"I wish I could," Rose frowned, "but it's going to rain soon and I would like to be inside the greenhouse before it starts." She looked past Rey down the hall. "Aster here?"

Rose adored that adorable two year old. She had only been working with Rey a few weeks at the greenhouse when she had to hold up her coworker's hair as she puked her guts up into a bin. It was a great bonding moment. Rey and that tall fellow Ben had, for lack of a better term, made a mistake when it came to contraception. They found out the hard way that no motherly lectures could prevent a pregnancy _after_ the act, but it gave them little Aster and he was the best.

"No. We took him to daycare this morning. He wants to be held all the time lately and," Rey rubbed her large belly, "I'm having trouble picking him up now." She swallowed down a gulp of tea along with the lump in her throat. "I don't think he's excited about having a sibling. Anyway," she cleared her throat, "your report?"

"Back up. What do you mean Aster isn't excited about his baby sister?"

"You're going to have to take those boots off." Rey pointed at Rose's feet then headed towards the lounge. "The rain should hold off for a bit," she called over her shoulder.

"Fiiiiiiine." Rose took her boots off and placed them neatly by the door before following Rey, who was carefully lowering herself sideways on the couch. "You ok?"

Rey stretched out her legs and sighed. "I'm fine. Just a bit crampy." She sipped her tea. "Don't look at me like that."

Rose plopped down in a rocking chair. "Like what? Like I'm a little worried that my pregnant best friend is in PAIN?"

Rey shook her head. "We've already been over this when I was pregnant with Aster. Sometimes sex later on can cause cramps. The physician said it's perfectly normal. I'll be fine in an hour or so."

"You two. One would think you're trying to make another baby." Rose pushed her feet on the floor to rock the chair. 

"Ha!" Rey snorted. "Ben jumps away from me whenever he feels Milla move. He said he can," she made finger quotes, "' _feel her watching us._ ' And then he'll be in a pouty, grumpy mood the rest of the day." She screamed into a pillow she held with her free hand. 

Rose raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're ok?"

Rey dropped the pillow back to what she had left of a lap as she sipped her tea. "You have to understand, have you seen my husband? Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I don't have needs. I'm all over that man the moment Milla gives me some peace in here." She pointed to her belly. "So even with the minor inconvenience of cramps, I'm perfect. Can you believe he actually tried to pull out the first time Aster nudged his hand?"

Rose blinked, trying to clear her head of Rey's rant. She couldn't relate. She had never been in a serious enough relationship with anyone to do... _that_... and she couldn't say that she saw Ben the same way Rey did. She cleared her throat. "Speaking of Aster..."

"I pushed him on his back and straddled him because we were _not_ finished..." Rey continued, not hearing Rose.

"Rey!" The woman in question jumped at hearing her name yelled. "What's this about Aster not excited about a sibling? Because I thought he was."

"Right." Rey waved her hand towards the kitchen. "You want anything to drink?"

Rose stood up from her chair, rolling her eyes. "I'll get it." She went into the kitchen figuring some water would be needed if Rey wanted to chat. It's a good thing she went to the cafe plenty early so she wouldn't be late for work. "Rey?" she called after opening the fridge.

"Yeah?" Rey called back from the lounge.

"Why does every apple in this bowl have a bite taken out of it?" Rose glanced at said bowl on a shelf before she closed the fridge and grabbed a glass from a cabinet. Rey always kept the most refreshing water in the fridge. Lemon, cucumber, mint, and refreshingly chilled. She poured some from the pitcher, placing it back in the fridge and going back to the lounge. "Rey?" She sat down on the other end of the couch at Rey's feet, turning sideways to face her.

"Aster did that." Rey fiddled with the edge of the pillow. "Did you see how tiny those teeth marks are? I was already slicing one for him at the counter. All it takes is for your husband looking all sexy in his suit to kiss you and suddenly your toddler is sitting in front of the fridge biting into all the apples."

"Rey!" Rose dissolved into laughter. 

Rey sipped her tea. "I swear, he was in his chair when Ben walked in."

"Oh gosh." Rose wiped tears from her eyes. "There's your problem. Are you and Ben capable of kissing each other quickly?"

Rey blushed a bit, her gaze on the wall of windows. "I suppose not."

Rose turned in her seat to look out the window. This house had a beautiful view, a full wall of windows in the lounge overlooking the valley of vineyards on the outskirts of Theed. The grapes will be ripe soon, the vineyards opening up for people to come pick their own grapes during the harvest. But currently, storm clouds were approaching the valley bringing with them louder rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning.

"He thinks the baby will get more attention than him," Rey spoke up after a couple quiet minutes. "Ben's really upset about it. We thought a brother or sister would be good for him, but..."

"You both wanted him to have what you didn't growing up." Rose turned back to look at Rey. "What changed? He _was_ excited. He would point to your belly and say, 'My sister!' with a big smile whenever I saw him." 

"It started after about a week of Ben carrying him to bed instead of me?" Rey blinked her eyes at the ceiling in an effort to fight off tears. "Because my back started hurting and I was losing my balance whenever I tried carrying him." She brushed away a tear that escaped. "He's been following me everywhere on his chunky little legs, screaming when I won't lift him up. He stopped saying 'good mowning, baby' and then this morning he bit into all the apples. I don't know what to do."

Rose took one of Rey's fluffly sock covered feet and rubbed, trying to soothe her. "Um... You know, Leia's been pregnant. She might have—"

"You can't be serious!" Rey tried to pull her foot away, but Rose held tight.

"I'm just saying. Who else do you know who has been pregnant?"

"No. She's the reason why Ben's terrified our child is crying out for attention just like he did." Rey did tug her foot free this time, turning forward on the couch with a hmph. 

"Rey..." Rose scooched closer to Rey, gently touching her arm. "She was there at the cafe this morning." She paused to let it sink it. "With Ben's uncle. And Finn."

"WHAT?!" Rey snapped her head up, looking at Rose with wide eyes.

"Yeah, um..." Rose picked up the pillow Rey knocked off the couch. "Ben's uncle is Finn's foster father Luke?" She peeked over at Rey through one eye. "I didn't tell them about Aster." Silence from Rey. "Say something."

Rey blew out a heavy breath. "But Finn will."

"Maybe he won't?" 

"Rose!" Rey pushed herself off the couch, taking her empty cup and waddling into the kitchen. "Finn doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. He speaks before he thinks."

Rose followed Rey into the kitchen where she was washing out her to-go cup in the sink. All the cafes on Naboo used corn plastic for their packaging, not wanting to harm the planet's pristine environment. The people of Naboo felt strongly about this too, proud that there wasn't a single scrap of trash in their streets or eyesore worthy overfilled landfills. Anything packaged in this plastic would be washed at home then recycled where it would then be sent to a composting facility to become fertilizer. This cup Rey was washing might one day fertilize Rey's millaflower garden at the greenhouse. The only problem was that corn plastic was pricey since nowhere on Naboo grew corn. They had to import it from the other mid-rim planets. For this reason cafes gave quite a big discount for using reusable cups.

"Just hear me out," Rose started saying, leaning against the counter. "Leia has obviously taken over your spot." She held her hand up to stop Rey from interrupting. "It might be best for everyone if you march in there and take your cafe back."

"Maybe...." Rey dried her hands on a towel. "You're right!" She threw the towel down on the counter with more force than necessary. "You're right. The very least she could do after everything is give me potty training advice." She cackled. "AND I'll get my cafe back." 

Rose did a fist pump, despite thinking her friend might have lost it. "That's the spirit!"

"I'll do it." Rey marched out of the kitchen.

"Rey?" Rose watched her turn to the front door instead of going back to the lounge. "Rey, wait! I didn't mean right now!"

Rey lowered herself carefully on a bench next to the door. "You're right. Again. Damnit." She tugged on hair. She was wearing it half up, half down today. "I want my tea!" 

Rose braced a hand on a wall as she slipped on one of her boots. "I know, sweetie. Talk to Ben about it when he gets home then figure out a day to go reclaim your cafe. Until then," she straightened up, "check out one of the cafes on the other side of the canal? They're much closer, so that's a plus."

"I tried those already before I found _my_ cafe." Rey nudged one of her shoes by the bench with her big toe. "But we went to one this morning after dropping off Aster at the daycare. It's not the same." 

"Hey," Rose sat down next to Rey and bumped shoulders, "you still get your morning cafe time with the hubby. That's the most important thing, right?"

Rey's lips twitched into a slight smile. "I'm not saying those words again."

"You're riiiiight, Rose?" Rose sang in her ear.

"Whatever." Rey huffed, but she was still smiling. "That doesn't help my morning tea craving, though."

Rose knew absolutely nothing about pregnancy cravings, aside from what she read in magazines and observing Rey. With Rey's last pregnancy, Ben had to go to a very specific shop for their denta bean ice cream. After showing up a few too many times just before closing time, the shop eventually started packaging it in cartons for their favorite pregnant customer. Ben blamed himself for this craving. He had introduced Rey to his favorite red bean ice cream that he used to get while living on Coruscant. Rey had fallen in love with it, but only one ice cream shop on Naboo served it.

Rose stood up and went to the door. "I have to go now. Will you be ok here all day by yourself?"

Rey got up too, wrapping her arms around her best friend despite her belly being in the way. "Yes. Thank you, Rose. Thanks for everything." After pulling away, she handed Rose a container.

"What's this?" Rose asked. She hadn't seen Rey take it from the kitchen, though she should have known she wouldn't be leaving without food.

"Just some extra egg and cheese muffins... And yes the sauce too."

Rose popped open the lid to see half a dozen mini muffins and a small container of red bell pepper puree. Aster was giving his parents trouble eating his vegetables, but he would eat them pureed with something to dunk. Rey had gotten quite good at making dunking sauces because of it. A loud clap of thunder broke Rose's lip licking inspection of the container. "Aaaaaand I'm going to go. Thanks for this!"

"Bye, Rose!" Rey waved from the door. "Thanks for the talk and the tea!"

Rose gave a mock salute. "Anytime, girlie!" She made it to the greenhouse with time to spare, both before her scheduled time to work and the rain started to fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey named their little boy after the aster flower. In case I don't include an explanation later, here's a [small blurb](https://www.teleflora.com/meaning-of-flowers/aster?promotion=JULYWELCOME5). (Opens same window.)
> 
> When I looked up denta bean ice cream on Wookipedia, there was a picture of red beans that reminded me of azuki ice cream so that's what I'm going with. Good taste, weird texture. 
> 
> For the purposes of this story, Naboo is an eco-friendly planet that has vineyards.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Peel Away the Bark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone loves little Aster as much as I do! Toddler speak is hard to spell.

"Do you think I can come in?" Finn shifted nervously on his feet. "Sorry, I know it's late...."

Ben silently opened the front door more and motioned Finn inside. Finn guessed he must've gotten home from work not too long ago as he was still dressed in his black slacks with black button down, sleeves rolled up and tie removed. The man wore _a lot_ of black.

"Sooooo." Finn toed his shoes off once he stepped inside, feeling Ben's piercing gaze on him the whole time. The door shut with an ominous click. "I'm guessing you heard what happened this morning? My foster—"

"I know," Ben, tense as always, cut him off and went to walk past Finn, but Finn caught his arm. 

"Are the rumors true?" Finn glanced down the hall. "That you were in the Unknown Regions with the First Order?"

Ben yanked his arm away with a hard glare. "Did my mother tell you that? Or was it my uncle?" 

"So it's true then? Does Rey know?" Finn didn't want to be the one to tell her. She knew all about how he got to Naboo. Despite possibly years of conditioning after being abducted as a small child by the First Order (or so they guessed), he had somehow managed to keep his own mind and ran away from his training camp on Kijimi when he was 15. A woman named Zorii Bliss found him and then sent him to Naboo with her pilot friend Poe Dameron. Poe brought him straight to a social services office for minors in Theed where Luke Skywalker found him and took him in. Luke wanted to use Finn's combat training for good. 

Ben tilted his head, pursing his lips in thought for a minute. "Do you think I keep secrets from my wife?" He shook his head then turned around to head further into the house.

Finn huffed out a breath then followed Ben into the lounge. He was pretty sure he was more confused about Ben's possible involvement with the First Order than he was before he got here.

When Finn entered the lounge at the back of the house, he saw Aster's droid toys scattered all over. The toddler responsible was already dressed for bed in his favorite pajamas with the horizontal black and white striped pants and long sleeve white shirt with a red BB unit on the front. The little boy was obsessed with droids, especially BB series units because of Poe Dameron's BB8.

"Beep beep beep!" Aster crawled around the dark hardwood floor rolling a toy that looked _exactly_ like Luke's R2D2.

Rey was sitting on a couch, her feet propped up on the table in front of her. She turned her eyes from the TV program she was watching, something about droids they probably put on for Aster, and waved when Finn came in the room. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Beeeeeeep!" Aster ran his toy into his father's leg as Ben sat down cross legged next to him. "Dada pway beep beep too!" He picked up a black droid toy and handed it to Ben, even the toddler already picking up that the man favored black, then went back to crawling around the floor. "Beep beep booooop."

"I thought you might want to talk. After, you know..." Finn sat down next to Rey on the couch, leaving his brown jacket on. He didn't plan on staying long. 

"Pinn!" Aster ran over and hugged his legs. "Up!" He held his arms out.

Finn scooped him up, settling him in his lap. "Hey, little man. Isn't it almost your bedtime?"

Aster shook his head. "No! Pinn pway beep beep?" He held out a blue droid toy.

Finn looked over at Ben, who was still sitting on the floor on the other side of the table lining up the toys, lips twitching in a smile. He didn't _look_ First Order. "Not right now, buddy. I need to talk to your mommy." He set him down on the floor.

"Oh." Aster frowned at the toy in his hands.

"WirrrrRrrr drrrp bwee-oooouuuu!" Ben chose the best time to roll his black droid across the table because Aster squealed in excitement and ran over to his dad to chase Ben's black droid with his blue one.

"So," Finn turned his attention back to Rey next to him, trying to ignore the human adult and toddler versions of droid sounds in the room. 

Rey carefully stood up. "Let's go in the kitchen.... They're going to be at this for a while."

Finn stood up too, looking back one last time at father and son crawling around the floor, before following Rey into the kitchen. The dining table was in an open space in view of the lounge, but the attached kitchen was pushed back so they would have a bit of privacy.

"Did you eat dinner?" Rey took a container out of the fridge. "I have extra ravioli." She took the lid off and squeezed some red sauce over the top. She always cooked too much food, a childhood of going hungry causing her to be afraid of running out as an adult so there were always stacks of leftovers in the fridge. Visitors never left the Solo house without food.

"I'm good thanks, but..." Finn looked at the bowl on one of the shelves, "what happened to your apples?"

Rey chuckled and closed the fridge, leaving the container on the counter. "Aster bit into all of them this morning." 

Finn's eyebrows shot up. "Why would he do that? I know you feed him."

Rey sighed, resting an arm on the counter next to them, her other hand rubbing her belly. "We think he's starting to act out about the baby."

"Well," Finn watched her hand mesmerized a moment, "it's a bit too late to keep him an only child."

Rey snorted out a laugh and Finn grinned, happy he could cheer her up.

"Soooo...." Rey started after her giggles died down, "about the thing you want to talk about. Rose was here this morning."

"Yeah. I kinda figured." Finn cleared his throat. "So you know my foster father is—"

"Ben's uncle?" Rey nodded. "Yeah, we know. Well, for sure now."

"What do—" Finn started to ask what Rey meant when Aster yelled, "I go poop!" from the other room.

"Did you already go poop?" Finn heard Ben ask. He and Rey leaned to peek around the fridge, which was at the edge of the kitchen, to see Ben pick his son up and place him on his hip. "Yeah, you did."

"Nooo!" Aster whined in reply when Ben tugged at his pants.

"We're starting to potty train him," Rey said. "But it's going slow and I _do not_ want to deal with that with a newborn."

"Mama! I go poop!" Aster yelled in that way toddlers do when they're excited as Ben carried him into the kitchen.

"I heard, Starflower!" Rey smiled big at him. "Are you going to sit on the potty now?"

"No! No potty!"

Ben rubbed the boy's back. "I need to change his diaper. Stinky pants." He crinkled his nose, kissed Rey quickly on the cheek, then left with his _'beep beep'_ babbling son.

"They said at the daycare it's a good sign he knows when he, well... goes—"

"You can say 'poop', Rey," Finn interrupted. 

"Right," Rey laughed. "Anyway... They said he'll sit on the potty when he's ready, but he wants nothing to do with it yet."

"Still no mom friends?" Finn asked. 

Rey shrugged and shuffled over to the dining table, pulling out a chair and heavily taking a seat. "We're not there long enough to meet the other parents. Maybe when he starts school? But I don't want to think about that." 

Finn took a seat across from her. The rain sounded peaceful here closer to the window where it was gently splattering against the glass. "You're going to be mad." Finn nervously spun the droid collage place mat in front of him.

"Why would I be mad?"

Finn kept his eyes glued to the place mat. "Because I might have told Luke and Leia about Aster. She wants to meet him." 

"You can tell her no."

Finn looked up at Rey's unusual harsh tone, her lips set in a firm line. "I figured you would say something like that. Um... this got awkward." He rubbed the back of his neck, turning his gaze towards the lounge across the hall and its now blank TV screen. "I'm going to see her all the time. And then there's the uncle thing..."

The rain filled the silence, neither apparently knowing what to say, until a loud cry with a scattering of _'ma ma ma ma maaa'_ ended it.

"That's my cue." Rey stood up and pushed her chair in. "Come on. And don't forget the ravioli." She pointed to the container she left in the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks." Finn got up too. "I'm surprised you still want to give me food." He picked up the container and followed Rey to the front door when he heard the loudest fart of his life. Finn looked all around sniffing the air, trying to figure out where it came from. Aster was already upstairs. "Rey? I think your house is haunted." He sat down on the bench so he could tie his shoes.

"What do you mean?" Rey fiddled with the ends of her hair not looking at him, her face bright red.

Finn paused bent over his foot mid-knot. "It was you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rey turned impossibly redder. 

"Yes you do." Finn finished tying his shoelace and stood up, placing his hands on his hips. "You were going to let me think your house was haunted by a farting ghost!"

"Did Rey fart again?" Ben called from the top of the stairs.

"Mama go poop!" Aster helpfully added from his perch on his father's hip. He really did look like a mini Ben, with the exception of his lips that he obviously got from his mother. "Dada hewp Mama wit pants!" 

"Sure. I can help Mommy with her pants." Ben bounced Aster, smiling wickedly down at Rey.

Rey buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe this."

A laugh started to escape from Finn and so he tried somewhat successfully to disguise it as a cough.

Rey gently punched his arm. "Not funny! Pregnant women... pass gas more often and at weird times."

"Sweetheart, can you come _pass gas_ up here? Aster is waiting to be tucked in and Daddy needs to help Mommy," Ben called down, sticking out his bottom lip in a pout.

"Mama cawry me!" Aster reached a little arm out. "Mama!"

"I'll be right there, Starflower!" Rey answered back, but it was not good enough for Aster who let out an ear piercing scream Finn thought no human was capable of making. 

Ben cringed and then disappeared from sight, but Finn heard him say over the crying, "Come on, ball! Let's roll to bed!"

"Ben!" Rey called from the bottom of the stairs, "Don't let him roll around the floor! He'll hit the wall again!" She paused listening for an answer, but only the sound of giggles and Aster's _'beep beep'_ carried down the stairs. "Ben!"

"Why might he hit the wall?" Finn asked.

Rey crossed her arms. "Ben's started playing a game with him instead of me carrying him to bed to get him to stop crying. He rolls to his room like BB8."

Finn snorted. "That's actually kind of funny."

"No, it's not." Rey shook her head. "He rolled right into a wall a couple nights ago."

Finn listened to the sound of giggles still floating down the stairs. "It sounds like he doesn't seem to mind."

"I suppose not." Rey's lips twitched in a slight smile.

"Can I ask you one more thing?" Finn asked, his last chance before leaving.

"Sure."

"Are the rumors true?" Finn shifted from foot to foot. "That Ben was with the First Order?" A dad helping his son roll like a droid down a hall couldn't possibly be First Order, but....

Rey hugged the staircase bannister post. "Ben doesn't do that." 

Finn figured her use of present tense was answer enough, so he went with his gut. "If he knows something, anything about the First Order, do you know how much that would help?"

"I already told you. Ben doesn't do that."

"You did," Finn agreed, "but I didn't ask about _now_." Finn getting away had gone a long way in making the New Republic aware of the situation on Kijimi, which had fallen under its radar for years. They now sent representatives to regularly check on the crime ridden planet that was ripe for hiding suspicious activities. Someone working within the First Order's higher ranks could actually bring them down if they were a threat beyond Kijimi, like Leia thought, or confirm for many in the Senate that they were harmless. It was a win-win. 

"I don't know what you want me to say. We have a child and another one on the way to think about." Rey placed her hand on her belly.

"I know that, but—"

"Do you? Because the way I see it, Ben was lost for years. He's finally happy and has a family."

"But, Rey...." Finn pleaded with her, "Leia and Luke are his family too. Ben needs—"

Rey shook her head. "No. Unless Leia can convince her grandson to poop in his potty. An apology would be nice too."

Finn was confused. "Apology for what? Her son disappeared and ignored her for YEARS! What if that were Aster?"

A thud and a cry broke their staring, more like glaring, contest. "Sorry, I need to go!" Rey slowly started up the stairs. "When you see Leia, tell her I'm taking back my cafe. See you later, Finn!"

"Rey!" Finn watched her go all the way up, but she never turned around. He desperately wanted to know more and was starting to think he didn't know his friends, or even his foster family, as well as he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't meant to be a take down the First Order and save the galaxy story. The characters are providing some background info about the world they live in and what Ben was up to all those years. It's similar to canon history, but no Force and the events are moving at a slower pace along with some other changes that allowed everyone to end up on Naboo.
> 
> Ben's "Come on, ball!" line is inspired by Han Solo saying, "Move, ball!" to BB8 in FA. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	7. I'm Your Lionheart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title is from a different Of Monsters and Men song _King and Lionheart_. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a song about a brother and sister.

It was an early Friday evening and finally almost the weekend. Being retired, there wasn't much difference between weekdays and weekends now, though Leia certainly felt as though her first days in Theed were just as exhausting as a week long marathon of Senate meetings. Leia wondered if Ben and Rey kept the same routine. She would wait at the cafe in her usual spot at her usual time just in case.

The house Leia bought was just down the street from her brother's so she was currently at the supermarket to pick up some ingredients to make a family dinner. She was hoping it would become a weekly tradition. Neither Luke nor Finn had class to teach that evening so it was the best time for everyone.

Leia took a cart from the full rack. It was still a little early for the post-work rush so the store was empty with the exception of the man nearby struggling with a screaming toddler. Why do parents bring their kids with them on errands if they can't behave?

"No, no, no, Unca Hugs!" The child screamed, tears streaming down his red face. His ears stuck out from under his tousled black hair.

Leia paused mid-step to watch them. She didn't recognize the tall man with his bright red hair and black and burgundy perfectly pressed Naboo Security Forces uniform, but something drew her to the duo. 

The man placed the crying child on the ground next to a tiny shopping cart. "Another time. Grandma gave you an important job." 

The little boy looked down at the cart in front of him then pointed to the small x-wing ride and shook his head. "I fwy wike Po!"

Leia left her empty cart and took a few steps closer to them. "Why do they put these rides in stores?" she asked as the man defeatedly lifted the now happy toddler into the ride. 

"Hold the wheel tight, Aster." The man scanned his credits chip on the side panel and the ride slowly swayed, much to the squealing boy's excitement. "My sister said this is his favorite store. I guess now I know why."

"That's my grandson's name. Aster." The morning after the Rose incident, Finn joined Leia at the cafe again and answered all her questions over coffee while she waited for Ben and Rey to show up, which they didn't. "About the same age too. He looks just like my son—" Leia stopped short. All the pieces fell in place. Uncle Hugs. Hux? Ben's best friend was.... "Armitage Hux Andor?" She looked up at the man next to her. Finn had also told her Ben married his best friend's sister, whom the Andors adopted not long after he left Naboo.

The man turned to look down at her too. "Yes. I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"We never met, but I'm Leia Organa. Ben's mother." 

The man said nothing and looked away to watch his nephew instead. Her grandson. He was right in front of her and she was just a stranger to him.

Leia gasped and placed a hand over her heart when Aster yelled, "I fwying! Unca Hugs! Watch me!" She saw him in a whole new light now that she knew exactly who he was.

"I see you, Starflower!" Hux stood rigidly next to Leia, but smiled fondly at his nephew. "Are you flying to the supermarket? Grandma gave us a list."

"Yeah! I hewp Gwamma!"

But not Grandma Leia. He didn't know about her. 

"Here's what's going to happen." Hux leaned in a bit to whisper. "You're going to turn around right now and leave us alone."

Leia got the impression he didn't mean only for right now. She cleared her throat, not taking her eyes off her grandson. "That's my grandchild." 

Hux straightened up and took a couple steps closer to the ride as it slowed, lifting Aster up and setting him on the ground by the tiny cart. "You ready to help Grandma? There's an invader here. We need to hurry."

Leia gasped. "Invader?!" 

Aster looked up at her with wide eyes then took off with his cart to the produce section straight ahead. He still had that adorable toddler run that was part skipping.

Hux stood up from his squat watching Aster the whole time. "What else do you want us to call you? You're not Grandma. My sister and best friend are uncomfortable in their own home."

"Wait..." Leia put a hand on his arm when he started to walk away. "Why doesn't my son want to talk to me?"

Hux looked down at her a moment, then to Aster who was tossing carrots into his cart, then back to her. "Don't you find it rather interesting you never met your son's best friend in all the years you visited him?"

"I wasn't here enough to—" 

"Exactly," Hux cut her off and walked away. 

"Ball!" Aster threw a head of lettuce into his cart, Leia watching him a short distance away. "Ball! Beep beep!" He threw another one in the cart. "Ball!"

"Come along, Starflower." Hux took the lettuce from Aster's hands and put it back in the bin. "Can you get some chickpeas for Grandma? They're in a can." He nudged Aster towards the row of aisles.

Leia couldn't hear or see them anymore. As a matter of fact, she was sure she could barely breathe anymore so she ran out of the store. Thankfully there was a break in the rain. The overcast sky and breeze gave the air a much needed coolness.

Was it that strange that Leia had never met Ben's best friend? Luke only just met two of Finn's friends a couple days ago. Was it different when your child was grown and on their own? Maybe. Probably. Maybe? Leia thought back on the times she visited Ben while he was living with his uncle. It wasn't.... often. Han was able to stop by more, but Leia was busy with the Senate and holding off the centrists from taking over the galaxy. So she came when she could, Ben spending most of her visit holed up in his room, only coming out when they went out to eat, and even then he glared at his plate the entire time. He was almost always in trouble for something or other, Leia dropping what she was doing after a call from Luke about what Ben had done _again_. During one of these visits, Ben had for once perked up across the table about testing for a belt promotion and sparring with his best friend Hux, but Leia hadn't been able to attend the classes. There was an important vote in the Senate that week. 

Leia looked up and down the street. She needed another supermarket. Luke only kept his home stocked with the bare minimum essentials. She wanted him and the boy he was currently fostering to have a nice meal for once. On her first day in Theed, she went to the bookstore and purchased some cookbooks and signed up for some cooking classes. She never had time to cook, always relying on a droid or a restaurant. This retired life was going to be different than the politician one. 

Luckily, Theed had as many supermarkets as it did museums so there was another one only about a block away. Upon entering, Leia took note of the lack of x-wing rides at the front. Usually she wouldn't think anything of it, but this time she felt her breath catch remembering the grandson who was playing with one not even half an hour ago. Leia grabbed a basket this time. She would be in and out quickly. Maybe a simple pasta dish. One of her books had a recipe for yobshrimp noodle salad.

It took no time at all to finish her shopping and get to Luke's place once she focused on her task. Luke's foster son Temiri Blagg was already home from school when she walked in the house. Han had found the 9 year old boy last year in the gambling city Canto Bight about to be sold by his parents to pay for a gambling debt. During one of her rare talks with Han to check in, he mentioned he had just found the boy and had plans to drop him off on Coruscant when Leia offered to take him to Naboo instead. She didn't know at the time that her son was so very close. It was her first trip to Naboo in years.

Temiri clicked off the TV and skipped into the kitchen where Leia was emptying her bags. "What are we making?" 

"Come wash your hands." Leia pointed to the sink behind her. "Yobshrimp noodle salad." She handed him a set of measuring spoons after he dried his hands and came to stand next to her at the kitchen island. "We need to make the vinaigrette first." She measured out the soy sauce and dumped it into the food processor. Why Luke had kitchen gadgets when he didn't cook anything that needed them, Leia didn't know.

Temiri measured out the hot sauce and added it to the food processor when Luke popped his head in. "Hi, honey! I'm home!" He stepped behind Leia and looked at the recipe over her shoulder. "That says _'refrigerate overnight'_ ," he pointed out.

"Yeah, well..." Leia huffed. "I was going to make something else when I ran into someone unexpected and got distracted."

"Who?" Luke popped a piece of carrot she was slicing into his mouth.

Leia finished slicing the carrot and scooped all the thin pieces into a bowl. "Armitage Hux Andor. He had his nephew with him."

Luke whistled low. "Tem, can I talk to Leia alone?"

Temiri nodded and finished peeling his onion before leaving the kitchen. Leia heard the TV click back on a moment later, the voice of a meteorologist droning on about more rain in the forecast. 

Leia put her knife down. She felt anger bubbling up and didn't want to cut herself. "He called me an invader in front of my grandson and told me to leave them alone."

Luke snorted. "Of course he did. Who says _that_ to a child?" 

"Luke..."

"I always thought he was lucky to be adopted by the Andors. They're good people." Luke started pacing. "And I was far too thrilled when Brendol Hux suffered a fatal heart attack, but that was a very Hux thing to say..."

"Luke! What do I do now?"

The front door slammed shut and then Temiri yelled, "Finn!" 

"Finn's here," Luke helpfully pointed out.

Leia picked up her knife again to start slicing the onion. She heard the boys chatting quietly, so Finn must've stayed in the other room.

"Anyway..." Luke cleared his throat. "Why are you here?"

"Making." Chop. "Dinner." Chop.

"That's not what I meant. Why are you _here_?"

Leia stilled her knife. Why was she here? "I want my son back, Luke. Somewhere along the way, I lost him. Had I known that day he asked to come home would have been the last I would see him, I never would have let him go." She sniffled a bit, probably from the onion she was slicing.

"That was years ago." Luke turned on a stove burner to start boiling the water. "Why did you wait so long? He's obviously moved on."

Leia shrugged. She wasn't really sure. "Before I knew it, time got away from me. Work in the Senate kept me busy." She turned to watch her brother by the stove dump the package of noodles into the water. "I'm tired now. So tired." 

"Leia." Luke used that voice, the one where he was telling her something she didn't want to hear. "You know Ben. He'll talk only when _he_ wants to and who knows why he doesn't."

"Luke..."

He shook his head, looking up from the pot he was staring at with sympathetic eyes. "Ben left. You can't make someone come back. You're not going to get your grandson without the son."

Leia's shoulders slumped. At this rate, her shoulders would soon be permanently slumped. "You're right. I need to be patient. He knows I'm here." Leia moved closer to the stove to check the noodles. "Why won't this damn water boil already?" Waiting on Ben was like waiting for water to boil. "But Luke, how am I supposed to know why he won't talk to me if he won't talk to me? Hux said something about never meeting him until now, but I still don't understand."

Luke kept his gaze on the pot a moment before shifting it to Leia next to him. "Han."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Temiri Blagg is the boy with the broom at the end of TLJ. 
> 
> The Yobshrimp Noodle Salad recipe is from the Galaxy's Edge cookbook.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	8. Showered by the Empty Hopes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to teenage Ben! I wanted to introduce his relationship with Han, though he ended up not even being in this chapter. And then I wasn't sure if it was too rambling and I might have been stumped on a title that was staring me right in the face.
> 
> So, anyway. Without further ado....

**15 Years Earlier**

Ben jabbed his finger on his locker's keypad and swung the door open so hard it slammed into the other lockers next to it. Back at school for the start of a new week after another pointless visit from his mother. He grumbled to himself as he shoved his math textbook inside the small space.

"Bad weekend?" His best friend Hux spoke up out of nowhere next to him. Ben didn't even notice him when he stomped down the hallway. He must've already been at his locker in the row along the other side of the hall where the rest of the beginning of the alphabet was assigned.

"Mom left this morning." He glanced at the small picture from a year ago taped inside his locker door. It was of him with his parents on Chandrila, the glistening water of the Silver Sea behind them. Leia had a short break from Senate duties so Ben got to go home for once. His parents surprised him even further with minimal bickering. "She's not coming. To the promotion." Ben slammed his locker door shut.

Hux jumped at the loud bang. "Well... That's nothing new." 

Ben hefted his backpack onto his shoulder and started walking to first period. It was a required 4 year course for all Naboo high school students on Gungan relations. It covered many topics including language, science, and history. "Yeah, but I was really hoping she would stick around for once. It's black belt and all."

"Let me guess. She wasn't won over by you breaking a mirror at Luke's school. I'll remind you it was a horrible idea, by the way."

Ben snorted. He slammed a speeder helmet into one of the mirrors at his uncle's martial arts school last week. Just as he predicted, his mother came running. "I got an earful about that before she changed the subject to the state of the galaxy. I don't care about any of that shit."

"And how is the galaxy?"

Ben glared at the kid who almost got in his way when they turned a corner. Floor to ceiling arched windows lined this hall allowing in just enough morning light. "How should I know? My plate of not gumbo dinner was more interesting." He paused. "I should have been at your house for dinner instead." Hux's mom Jyn Andor made _the best_ nuna gumbo in Theed. Leia turned down the invite to join Ben at the Andor house for dinner and insisted on _family time_ at a restaurant instead. Ben was not happy about it. He would have to wait for the dinner rotation to loop back to gumbo, hopefully again this weekend.

"You know," Hux nudged Ben with an elbow, "Mum made plenty. Come by after school and she'll send you home with the leftovers."

"Thanks." The right side of Ben's mouth twitched up in a smile. He really loved that gumbo.

They turned into a classroom at the end of the hall and shuffled over to their desks in the middle and off to the side. Ben liked school, but didn't want to appear overly eager by sitting in the front. The large holoscreen up front was turned on already so today's lesson must be a video. 

Hux slid into his desk. "Your dad still coming this weekend?"

"Yeah. He said he should get here just in time." Ben dug into his bag for his holopad and pen. "At least he can't get in a fight with my mom if she's not here."

Hux hummed. "What was it about last time?"

"Mom thought I was too young for a speeder." Ben cleared his throat. _"No kid of mine is too young for a speeder, Princess! Quit babying him!"_ he repeated in his best imitation of Han Solo.

"Reckless nerfherder!" Hux cackled. Ben always reenacted his parents' fights when he hung out at the Andor house, so Hux was familiar enough to know Leia's most frequently used comebacks.

"What's so funny?" Poe Dameron pulled out a chair at the desk in front of Ben and turned around after taking a seat. "Is that a Solo smile in the wild?"

Ben cleared his throat, trying to readjust his face into his usual disinterested scowl that scared away everyone except Poe.

"We were just fondly remembering that time Han got Ben a speeder," Hux filled him in.

"Dude, I am still so jealous!" Poe's eyes widened. He hoped to become a pilot someday and a speeder was his first step in learning how to fly. Ben let him borrow it once, which is what prompted the fight between Ben's parents to begin with. Leia never would have found out had Poe not nearly run her over.

"You're not borrowing it again, Poe." Ben shook his head. "But my dad's coming this weekend. Maybe he can take you out on the Falcon."

Poe punched the air. "Yes!" And did a shimmy in his seat. "Eunh eunh eunh eunh!"

Ben didn't mind his dad and Poe bonding over flying. It was never Ben's favorite activity, much to his dad's disappointment, though he did enjoy his speeder. Ben would be busy this weekend anyway with his promotion and his Uncle Lando was also taking him to the store for some new calligraphy brushes. Hopefully they could stay into the next weekend for the Lake Country's spring Festival of Glad Arrival. Some of Ben's calligraphy was going to be on display in the school's festival booth. Unsurprisingly, Leia wouldn't be able to make that either.

"Settle down, class!" Their teacher called from the front after the bell rang. "Mr. Dameron, this isn't a dance class!"

"Sorry," Poe mumbled as he slouched down. 

"Cool," Ben whispered after the lights dimmed and video loaded on the screen. The Gungan capital city's name Otoh Gunga glittered in the center over a picture of the city's signature bubble architecture. At this point in the required course, students could submit an essay to be read by Gungan educators. They selected only the very best, students with a clear understanding of Gungan society, to visit Otoh Gunga as human student ambassadors. Ben gripped his pen, ready to take notes. He wanted to visit the city very, very badly. In fact, he was hoping to attend Theed's prestigious university to study Gungan/human relations and law. 

Or maybe Ben would go to Coruscant. With a city covering the entire planet, there were plenty of good schools to choose from. But Leia didn't want her son going to Coruscant. In her view, the planet was falling under too much centrist influence. Ben sighed, closing the university app on his holopad and putting it away in a desk drawer. It was now Friday night and the Falcon should be here soon, so Ben was going to the spaceport to meet his dad, Lando, and Chewie. Leia was still a no.

"Come on, Artoo!" Ben called from the front door. The R2 unit whizzed around the corner beeping excitedly. "Yeah me too," Ben replied to him, opening the door. "No, we're not going to be late," Ben answered the questioning whir and boop.

Theed's spaceport was on the opposite side of the city from Luke's house so they had to take a city transport to get there. Ben scanned his pass, the light blinking a bright green, as he got off at the spaceport stop. Artoo followed him inside to the large visitor's lounge where people could wait for travelers. 

Ben made a beeline for the coffee counter for a cup of Naboo roast. One lump of sugar, no cream. _"Expertly crafted to bring out sweetness and intensity."_ Poe had laughed hysterically when Hux read the label on the package from Ben's favorite cafe, even going so far as to eagerly shake Han's hand the next time he saw him. _"Congratulations on being the first human to produce coffee bean offspring, sir!"_

"Artoo, no." Ben shook his head at the droid as he blew on his cup to cool the steaming liquid. "It's not too late for coffee." 

Artoo whirred and beeped some more, wobbling in place.

"That was an excellent impersonation of Threepio, but I'm still drinking my coffee." Ben took a tiny sip to test the temperature. Almost perfect.

Also almost perfect? Ben's weekend. If only his mom could find the time for what's most important in life. Ben went to the photography store Monday after school to print this important picture that he now taped below the older one in his locker. Ben was holding up his new black belt and wearing a rare big smile, Han's arm slung over his son's shoulders with an identical big smile. Even as content as he usually was here (because Luke could be a huge thorn in his side), he still longed for the summer days on Chandrila at home happy with both his parents just like in the other picture. Days like that now were very few, but he still remembered years ago chasing butterflies up and down the rolling hills outside Hanna City until his happy feeling was burst when he went home to more arguing. Han was leaving again on another job, Leia had Senate meetings, and who would watch Ben? The same old, same old. Their solution was sending him to Naboo and interestingly, his relationship with his father improved. Han was _trying_. But why couldn't Ben be a normal kid happy at home chasing those butterflies with both his parents? He glanced at both pictures one last time and closed his locker with a soft click.

"You ready?" Hux asked from just behind him.

"Yeah." Ben adjusted his bag on his shoulder feeling ready to start the week. "I'm ready."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Naboo roast coffee is the Italian roast from Starbucks.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	9. Tumble Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little long to update! I got distracted reading other fics and lost track of the time. I swear this was only updated a week ago! When am I?

Han shook out his umbrella and placed it in the umbrella rack outside the cafe. That's one of the things he loved about Theed. The city had an extremely low crime rate so no one ever stole your umbrella when you left it outside in the umbrella rack.

This cafe was the cafe where he usually met Ben and Rey when he came to visit, but today he was here for someone else. Ever since Aster was born, Han tried to come in every couple of months. Ben had burst into tears seeing his father on his wedding day when Han explained he would try to be there more, to make up for not being there enough for Ben growing up. Suddenly he had a squirming, wailing baby with a stinky diaper in his arms. Han to this day wasn't sure if Ben was relieved to have a diaper changing helper or happy to see his dad, but Han liked to think his son was _that happy_ to see him so he never asked.

Han had recently visited less than a month ago though, so he was surprised to get a message from Ben asking for him to come back so soon. He said it was an emergency. Leia was here. It reminded Han of the time he talked to Ben after the fire incident, so he set a course right away for Naboo.

Leia was sitting alone along the windows looking down at the mug cupped between her hands, so she didn't see Han approach. "You changed your hair." Her usually tightly braided hair was only twisted up on the sides, the rest draped over a shoulder.

"You got a new jacket." Leia held her mug to her lips, eyes roaming over him. It had to have been at least a year since they last saw each other and before that, only occasionally. Their marriage crumbled after the fire at Luke's school and Ben leaving. Han's permanent residence became the Millennium Falcon.

"No. Same jacket." Han pulled out a chair, roughly sitting down. He wasn't here to discuss his jacket. "Heard you moved here."

Leia's eyes drifted to look out the window. "Where did you hear that? Is Chewie dabbling in galaxy gossip now?"

Han shook his head no. "Ben."

"Right." Leia huffed. "He still talks to _you_."

"Hey now, Princess. Whose fault is that?"

Leia didn't answer right away. Han followed her gaze to a young couple pushing a stroller. "Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Don't act like a laser brain with me, Han Solo." Leia turned her frustrated eyes to his. "Did you know our son was married and had a child?"

"Oh. That." 

"Yes, _that_. Honestly, Han."

All Han could do was lift his arms in a helpless shrug. "What do you want me to say? You never asked!"

"Ohhhh," Leia chuckled without humor. _"How did it go with those rathtars and by the way, is our son married?"_ Her voice progressively got louder until Han was sure steam was coming out of her ears. 

Han cringed. "Well when you put it like that..."

"Damn right. Finn told me Ben's been married as long as he's known him. Three years, Han. Three!"

"Hey calm down, Princess." Han sat up straight, looking around. "You're going to cause a scene."

Leia snapped her mouth shut once she noticed some of the cafe's customers staring. "Did you know," she continued much softer this time, "that girl he married was only 18 when he got her pregnant?"

"Her name is Rey."

"I know." Leia waved her hand. "But—"

"No. No _but_. You're looking for something to pick on now to make up for your," he pointed at Leia, "shortcomings."

"Where is this coming from?" Leia snorted out a laugh. "You're a smuggler, not a counselor."

"I'm also the wizened grandfather now. People depend on me... for wisdom." Han nodded to himself.

Neither said anything for a couple minutes, Leia occasionally taking a sip of her drink. "I would think Cassian Andor has the wizened role covered," she spoke softly, "but I wouldn't know. I've never even met my grandson."

"I'm starting to wonder if you've even met your son?"

Leia scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean? I gave birth to him, I raised him, I–" 

"No you didn't." Han waved his hand to stop his now fuming wife from interrupting. "This cafe is the closest one to Luke's place, right?"

"Yes, but where–"

"What does Ben always order here?"

Leia blinked, eyes searching the menu on the wall up front. "How am I supposed to know? He's not speaking to me, remember?"

Han quirked his lips up into a halfhearted smile. "He was when he was 15."

"I'm not following."

"And to think you call _me_ ," Han jabbed his thumb towards his chest, "a nerfherder." Having enough, he stood up. "Why don't you come to the Andor's for dinner tonight? I'll pick you up."

"I don't think so." Leia clasped her hands around her cup. It didn't look like her usual Gatalentan tea. "The three of us should go out. Or I can cook. Ben can bring Aster..."

Han pointed a finger towards the window. "I'll be right out there at 6. Come, or not, but your son would like you to. Maybe you can finally get to know him. He's a good kid." With those parting words, Han spun on his heel and strode out of the cafe only to promptly turn right around once outside. He nearly forgot his umbrella in the rack. This was the one flaw in Nabooian umbrella culture. It was easy to forget about your umbrella.

Ben and Rey were waiting in the courtyard outside the Space Port with Poe Dameron and BB8, Aster chasing the rolling droid around squeeling _ball_ and _beep beep_. Chewie and Lando, after dropping Han off on Naboo yesterday, had the Falcon so Poe and Han were going to spend the afternoon with Aster at the space museum. The museum had real life models of cockpits, gentle rides like that x-wing at the supermarket, and movies. It was the perfect place to take a toddler on what looked to be a soon rainy day while his parents did whatever parents did with their free time. Han wasn't going to dwell on that thought. 

After spotting his father's approach, Ben stood up from the bench he was sitting on with Rey and nervously walked over. "Well? Is she coming?" 

Han watched Aster and BB8 circle around a fountain, unsure how to reply.

"She's not." Ben scoffed. "Of course she's not." He kicked a pebble, tucking his chin down like he does whenever he's disappointed and doesn't want anyone to see the tears in his eyes. "Why do I even bother?"

Han clasped Ben's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "She didn't say no."

"But she didn't say yes." Ben tried to shrug his father's hand off, but Han held tight.

Han's heart ached for his son. Ben hadn't put himself through this for years, hoping his mother would be there and then being let down almost every time. Rey was right in that Leia would come waltzing back into their lives one day, but no one had guessed that Ben would do a complete 180° in wanting to see her. Ben had been furious when Han received his message a few days ago, but right now he had turned into that teenager who wanted his mother to see his calligraphy on display. "I'm sorry, kid." Han had no plan to tell Ben his mother's actual answer and there was still a chance she would come. No need to get his hopes up again.

"Yeah, well..." Ben successfully shrugged off Han's hand this time and brushed some hair out of his face. "I'm done. I'll take Rey to our cafe tomorrow and pretend Mom isn't there."

"Ben...."

"Simple, right?" Ben blinked away the wetness lingering in his eyes. "Just like that."

"Hey!" Rey had snuck up on them, wrapping an arm around Ben's waist. "Ready to go? I think Milla is asleep."

"Yeah?" Ben's mood instantly shifted and he grinned, placing a hand on Rey's belly and feeling around. "I'm ready," he said, leaning down to kiss her lips.

"Dada gib me kiss choo!" Aster held his arms out from where he was sitting in his stroller pushed by Poe.

Ben lifted him out, holding him up and smacking a kiss on the giggling boy's cheek. "Be good for Grandpa and Poe, ok?"

"Otay, Dada." Aster wrapped a tiny arm around Ben's neck as he was lowered to his father's shoulder, clutching his small porg plush in his other arm.

Ben hugged his little boy close, closing his eyes and gently kissing the back of Aster's head. Han hoped he wasn't having a setback. After Aster was born, Ben had trouble putting his baby down. He was afraid his son wouldn't feel loved enough, if he let him go. Rey, while content to leave her newborn alone with his father, was scared at the idea of at least one of them not being with him. _"What if he thinks we're not coming back?"_ she had asked. It took a lot of work to get Ben and Rey to the point where they understood it was ok for their child to occasionally be away from them. 

"Ben?" Poe spoke up when Ben didn't put Aster back in his stoller. "Do you want to come with us?"

Ben didn't answer right away, letting out a shuddering breath and squeezing his eyes impossibly tighter shut. "No." One lone tear escaped as Ben ran a hand over Aster's wavy hair. "No. I'm fine and Rey needs a nap..." He finally lowered Aster into his stroller after leaning him towards Rey so she could hug him goodbye. "Make sure he doesn't lose Ball." 

"Dada gib Ball kiss!" Aster held out his porg with both hands.

"Sure. A nap." Poe smirked, watching Ben crouch down to kiss his son's toy.

Rey crossed her arms. "I'll have you know Milla attended a dance party last night and I was the reluctant host."

"Kept us up most of the night." Ben wrapped his arm around Rey's shoulders, yawning as he pulled her against his side.

BB8 rolled into Poe's leg, beeping and whirring impatiently. "Yeah yeah, buddy. We're going now."

"Have fun, Starflower!" Rey blew Aster a kiss and gave a little wave.

Han quickly hugged Ben and gave his back a couple pats. Poe came up next to him, pushing Aster's stroller to a stop, watching the couple walk home hand-in-hand.

"We told him that was a bad idea," Poe reminded him, voicing what had also been on Han's mind all morning.

Han shrugged at a loss. They all agreed to follow Ben's lead on what he wanted to do about his mother. "Maybe it's exactly what he needs to move on."

Poe turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Jyn tell you that?"

Han grunted. "Jyn told me that."

"Well," Poe turned to follow BB8 who was obviously done waiting to go to the museum, "she could still show up. Right?"

Han stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking alongside Poe. "She didn't say yes, but she didn't say no. I told her I would be at the cafe later to pick her up. See if she shows." Right now, Han wasn't sure which would be better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Leia show up to dinner or not? Stay tuned! Poor Ben. He doesn't know how to feel or what to do. I always felt like canon Ben struggled between wanting his parents and not wanting to need them and at times wears his heart on his sleeve.


	10. See-through Skin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise in advance for the Baby Shark reference.

The Andors lived on a beautiful, quiet street along a lake with a view of the mountains on the other side. In fact, the greenhouse where Rey worked was just up the street. It was a peaceful early evening with the scent of rain lingering in the air, the gray overcast sky blocking out the sun. After one look at Ben when he and Rey arrived at her parents' house, Jyn commented that he was brooding so Cassian took Ben down to the lakeshore to skip some stones. Or in Ben's case, pick out the fattest rock and see how far out he can chuck it across the water. The _sploosh_ it made upon impact with the water's surface was very satisfying and an improvement on his old destructive ways. 

"This one's for never asking me what _I_ want." Ben tossed a rock between his hands testing its weight before throwing it as hard as he could into the lake.

_Sploosh!_

Cassian's much flatter rock gently skipped by.

"This one," Ben glared at the rock in his hands, "is for thinking she can be a grandmother when she still doesn't want to be my mother."

_Sploosh!_

Cassian let out a low whistle. "Ouch, that's a rough one."

Ben scooped up a handful of pebbles and threw those into the lake before replying. "It's true. Finn said she's always asking about _my_ son and _my_ involvment with the First Order, but never _me_." He jabbed his thumb at his chest to further emphasize his point.

Cassian opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off.

"And what about Rey?" Ben stomped around the pebbled shore unil he found a much larger rock, lifting it with both hands over his head. "What's her problem with Rey?" Ben grunted, throwing the rock into the lake.

Both men jumped at the splash.

"I don't know." Cassian nervously eyed the heavily breathing man next to him. "Why do you think she has a problem with Rey?"

Ben shook his head, brushing the grit off his hands on his dark jeans. "Finn said he got the impression she doesn't approve."

Cassian's eyes narrowed. "Doesn't approve? I'm gonna–" He spun on his heal and started towards the stairs.

Ben was winding his arm up ready to throw his next rock when he noticed the sudden quiet next to him. "You're gonna what? Cassian?"

"Da da da daaaa!" The youngest Solo turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and ran straight into his grandfather's legs. "Oof!"

Hux followed, Rey waddling slower not far behind them. 

"Easy there, Starflower!" Cassian scooped up Aster, resting him on his hip. "What's this?" He tapped the odd looking toy ship clutched in Aster's hands.

"Ship, Gwampa!" He frowned at Cassian as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rey sat on the bench along the wall with a groan. "Poe and Han took him to one of those exhibits at the space museum where you can build your own ship."

"Those types of exhibits are strictly ages three and up. It explains as such right in the pamphlet." Hux stabbed a finger into his palm for emphasis then raised an eyebrow at Rey. "And by the way, didn't Mum kick you out of the kitchen so you could stretch your legs?"

Rey took a swig of water from her canteen before answering. "I walked here, didn't I? You were kicked out too."

"Were you hovering with your mother's holotablet again?" Cassian looked back-and-forth between the siblings, who were now pointedly looking away from everyone towards the lake. It wasn't unusual for Jyn to kick them out of the kitchen on family dinner night. Hux followed Jyn around the kitchen with recipe in hand correcting her while Rey constantly snuck food faster than Jyn could chop it.

"Is this an x-wing or a tie fighter?" Ben decided to get back to the new toy topic and took Aster from Cassian's arms, getting a better look at the ship up close. It had the black flat wings of a tie fighter, but the x-wing's distinctive long nose extending from the cockpit.

"Ship wike Poe, Dada!" Aster swooped the toy through the air, clearly oblivious to the confused looks around him.

"Sure, buddy." Ben dropped a kiss on his son's head with an amused chuckle. "Just like Poe."

Hux snorted. "How did he get _that_ out of the museum with Poe around?"

"Poe!" Aster swung his arms up excitedly, causing Ben to lean away from the dangerously flying close to his face tie-wing. X-fighter? "Poe and Gwampa hewp me!"

"Um..." Ben batted the ship away from his face as it flew too close again. "If Aster's here, where's my dad?" After a third time of nearly taking an x-wing fighter to the face, Ben set Aster down on his feet.

"Gwampa busy." Aster took off running in loops, waving his ship in the air and yelling _pew pew_. Hux and Cassian trailed after him. 

"Busy? With what?" Ben took a seat next to Rey on the bench, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her cheek, nuzzling into her.

"Hmm?" Rey's eyelids fluttered shut. "Um...." She turned her head just enough to capture Ben's lips with hers in a soft, lingering kiss.

Ben pulled away when Rey tried to deepen it. "My dad?"

Rey huffed next to him. "He only said he had something to do before dinner. You ready to talk now? You have that look. As if you have the weight of all the stars in your eyes." She reached over, cupping his cheek in her hand to turn his gaze to hers. It's the same thing she said to him the day they met and she applied bacta salve to his hands.

Ben shrugged. They hadn't said a word to each other since they got home after Han's chat with Leia this morning. They didn't need to. Rey always knew what he needed and at the time, he _needed_ his wife while Milla was blissfully quiet. "She's not going to want me."

"Is that what's been upsetting you?" Rey left her hand on his cheek, stroking it softly with the pad of her thumb.

Ben shrugged again. He had perfected the Solo shrug long ago. "She's mad enough about a fire that I didn't start. What happens when she starts believing the rumors?"

"The rumors _were_ true, Ben. That's not you anymore," Rey helpfully reminded him.

Ben looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers. "She only wants to see me when she's mad. I think sabotaging your mother's Senate bills because you're angry at everything more than qualifies."

"Ben...."

"And then there's all the planets I helped _convince_ to join the cause."

"Ben...." 

"I did horrible things. I'm horrible."

Rey was quiet for a moment. "Look." She pointed the short distance away to the lakeshore where a rock skipping Cassian and Hux stood on either side of a rock throwing Aster. "Could a horrible person make that?"

Ben loved his son, but he still felt a tinge of guilt for being so irresponsible with Rey. "You told me twice you weren't on any contraception."

"How many times did we have sex and I never said anything? The first time was already too late. I saw you in the hall without a shirt on, remember? We had the house to ourselves." Rey again helpfully reminded him. "I was an equally willing participant."

"Can you put a shirt on or something?" Ben mimicked Rey's voice then leaned in to beathe into her ear, "Or something." Ben smirked, sitting back as she flushed. 

Rey simply shook her head before she gasped, but it wasn't the good gasp like when his cock hits a particularly sensitive spot. The scene in front of them was like watching two starships collide and no one could stop it. The ship in Aster's hand slipped to the pebbled ground with a _thunk_ hard enough to break it apart, causing its young captain to burst into tears. "Dadaaaa!"

"Ages three and up, Solo!" Hux called out as he squatted down to comfort his nephew.

Cassian bent down and fiddled with the pieces. "It looks like these should snap back together." He narrowed his eyes at the wing in one hand. "Somehow."

Rey elbowed Ben's side. "Go on. Someone wants his Daddy."

Ben started to stand up, but plopped right back down. "Do you think.... do you think he knows I want him?"

"DADA!!!!!"

Rey gestured to the unhappy toddler flailing in his uncle's arms. 

"Ok. I get it." Ben stood up and jogged over to the scene of the toy accident. 

Aster's face was all scrunched up when Hux passed him over. "Here, take your offspring."

"Shhhhh...." Ben swayed a bit, rubbing his son's back. "Baby porg, doo doo doo doo doo doo. Baby porg, doo doo doo doo doo doo. Daddy porg, doo doo–"

"Dadaaa, brokden." Aster mumbled unhappily into Ben's shoulder.

Ben looked down at Hux and Cassian who were bickering over how to reassemble the ship. It was only in four parts. How hard could it be? "Grandpa Han will fix it, Starflower." He took the rag that Rey handed to him to clean Aster's face before he wiped snot all over his shirt. 

"I wanta show Gwampa's fwiend."

"Grandpa's friend?" Ben paused his swaying and handed the rag back to Rey. She had a whole bag with her. Where did that come from?

"Uh huh. Can I pway wit dem?"

"Um...." Ben looked to Rey who was looking up at him with wide eyes. "You'll have to ask nicely."

"Otay, Dada." Aster sleepily replied, rubbing his nose with a hand before clutching his father's shirt in a tiny grip. 

"Hey, look!" Rey waved Ball the Porg in Aster's face, making him giggle, then tucking it into the crook of his arm.

Ben bounced the boy a bit in his arms, thinking. Why did Aster think Grandpa was bringing a friend? Was it Leia? Did he overhear something while at the museum? He needed to talk to his dad about this, remind him that Aster is starting to repeat everything he hears. "Baby porg, doo doo doo doo doo doo." Ben pressed a kiss to Aster's hair, resting his lips there. "Safe at last, doo doo doo doo doo doo, safe at last."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no.... what were Han and Poe talking about with toddler ears around? Who is Han's friend?
> 
> This chapter was originally planned from Cassian's PoV, but Ben wasn't having it.
> 
> Thanks for reading/kudos/comments/etc!


	11. Feel the Tones That Tremble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a brief mention of past canon character deaths and grief.

"Leia Organa, we weren't expecting you." Jyn opened the door to let Han and Leia in the house, peeking over her shoulder at her father with raised eyebrows. No one expected her to actually show up. She never had before.

"I figured it was time I finally came to one of these dinners." Leia stepped carefully through the doorway looking around. Han snorted from behind her. "What is it now, Han?"

Jyn closed the door behind them with a click. "I'll let Ben know you're here." 

Han placed a hand on Leia's elbow to stop her from following.

"Impader!" Aster fell on his bottom when he lost his footing coming around the corner and burst into tears. "Gwamma, impader!"

Galen waved Jyn off from his seat on a couch. "I'm fine here, Stardust. Go take care of the little one."

Jyn lifted up her grandson, hugging him to her chest. "Han, can you....?" She nodded her head in the direction Aster came from. "We need your help with something." She turned to head down the hall. "Grandpa will fix it, Starflower," her voice drifted away with each step.

"I'm gonna...." Han pointed hooked his thumb in their direction and scurried after them.

Galen patted the seat next to him. "Leia, it's wonderful to see you. Come sit a moment." He took her hand in his once she snapped her jaw closed and sat down.

"Galen Erso?" Leia smiled at him. "This meeting is under much better circumstances, I suppose." Ever the politcian, going from unsettled to politely at ease in the blink of an eye.

"Better than a funeral? Yes, I would think so." Galen squeezed her hand. "How have you been holding up?"

"It's been five years already, Galen." Leia shook her head. "Other than not seeing my son since he was 18, I'm fine."

"Ah, my dear. Grief can be a funny thing. It's like a pebble in your shoe. Some days it pricks at you, some days you do not think of it." Galen had last seen Leia five years ago at the funeral for her parents Breha and Bail Organa on Alderaan. Her mother's pulmonodes had failed and because of her age, she chose not to replace them. Bail, stricken with grief, died of a broken heart only two days later. "In a way, you've been grieving for your son as well. Sometimes in our hurt, we hold on too tight so we're not hurt again."

Leia pulled her hand back and clasped it with the other in her lap. "Ben didn't even come. To the funeral. Some days I...." She quickly swiped at the lone tear that slipped down her cheek. "I know he knew about it. Han told him."

Galen was silent a moment, staring in the direction of where he figured everyone was gathered in the kitchen. Aster dropped his ship earlier and it was taking a whole crew of the galaxy's heroes to put it back together. "Ben was lost for a long time, but not anymore. He's right down that hall." He pointed a finger, making sure Leia's eyes were following. "Do you want to go see him?"

"Just like that? I have been waiting every morning at that cafe for him." 

"Leia," Galen picked up his cane and stood up, "you're not in the Senate anymore. Your son isn't a bill to negotiate. He's not a losing debate with Coruscant's impossible senator that you're desperately trying to win. Just come say hello. You do not need to be a politician here."

"Wait...." Leia looked up at him from her seated position. "That fire. Ben didn't start it, did he." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Does it really matter anymore? All of you got burned." Galen turned around, not waiting to see if Leia was following. He didn't move as swiftly as he used to like back in the day when he could run from Imperial officers or dive away from explosions.

The kitchen was a flurry of activity. Jyn was stiring a large pot on the stove, Hux right next to her hugging a holotablet to his chest. Rey was sitting at the kitchen island watching them and picking at a freshly baked biscuit she must have grabbed from the stacked plate in front of her. Cassian was carrying a stack of plates to the dining room. Galen's eyes darted around the room, taking in his family. Ben looked upset about something, standing near the door to the yard with his arms crossed and frowning at his father who was gesturing wildly about something. "I didn't know he was listening, kid!"

"I don't belong here." Leia spoke up so softly next to him, Galen almost didn't hear.

"You're right for once," Galen agreed. "That ship flew years ago."

"But I don't understand. Why is he giving me another chance? Or did he invite me here to punish me?" Leia pointed back down the hallway they just came from that was covered in family photos, many of them featuring Ben. One whole chunk of the wall alone was pictures of Ben and Hux at every belt promotion. "I get it now. I saw all those photos."

Galen pursed his lips, thinking. "I overheard him say something to Rey once that you never stop needing your parents. As much as we wish Ben could move on, he is still trying to figure out your place in his life."

Leia shook her head before he finished his sentence, clearly disagreeing. "Didn't he already decide that when he stopped speaking to me when he was 18?"

"Hmmm. No. Much too recent." Ben had been clinging to hope that his mother would be a mother to him his whole life, but Galen wasn't about to tell Leia that piece of information.

Leia huffed out a breath, frustrated. "What is it with your family and riddles? You even got Han doing it."

"Hewo." Little Aster stood there looking up with an expectant look on his face. "Pway wid me, pwease?" He held out his finally repaired toy ship to Leia. "Dada say you nod impader."

Galen was positive you could hear a pin drop as the sound was seemingly sucked out of the kitchen when everyone snapped their heads to the entryway where Aster held out his ship to Leia. Ben broke out of the haze first, all the color draining from his face before he bolted out of the kitchen through the dinning room.

"Dada go poops!" Aster was the first to move, running after Ben. "Wait fo me!"

"No, no, no not now!" Rey scooted off her stool, waddling after her husband and child. "Aster, knock first!"

"Dada wock da door!" Aster cried, accompanied by the sounds of his little fists knocking. "Dada!" 

"What?" Leia watched everyone else hurry after them, a confused look on her face.

"Aster is being potty trained," Galen explained, "and I think this might be the first time he recognizes what going to the fresher means." A retching sound carried from the fresher outside the dinning room, causing Galen to cringe. "Although I don't think Ben is doing _that_." He looked down at Leia, who looked torn between wanting to help her son and wondering if she even should. "Would you care for some tea?"

"Ben? Sweetheart, are you ok?" Rey knocked now too. "Your son is ready to use the potty so _please_ open this door."

Another round of retching from inside the fresher was Ben's answer.

"Do you have Chandrilan tea?" Leia asked.

Galen raised an eyebrow, walking over to the cabinet where they kept all kinds of tea and coffee. "I believe so. Do you not drink Gatalentan tea anymore?"

"I do, but," Leia picked up the pouch of coffee beans on the counter, "I always made Ben Chandrilan tea when he was unwell." She traced the letters on the packaging with a whistful look on her face. "He would get so upset, he would..." She gestured in the direction of the fresher. "Now that I think about it, he was probably upset about me. But the tea always helped." 

"Chandrilan tea it is, then." Galen smiled gently, plucking a few teabags out of the box and placing them in mugs.

"This is from the cafe I've been going to." Leia held up the package of Naboo roast from Galaxy's Edge, a small coffee chain throughout the galaxy featuring beverages from many different planets. 

"Have you tried their Naboo roast?" Galen asked as he pushed a button on the pot to boil some water. "It's the best in Theed, despite being from a chain. Ben got us all drinking it years ago."

Leia placed the package down on the counter. "No, I haven't tried it yet. I've been ordering a latte." She shrugged a shoulder. "Trying something different."

"Were the cafes in Hanna City out of Naboo roast? I would have thought we would hear Ben screaming about it from here."

"What do you mean?" Leia asked softly, just loud enough to hear over the bubbling water.

Galen frowned, confused. "The Naboo roast at Galaxy's Edge has been Ben's favorite drink since he was a teenager. He shoved his cup under all of our noses, saying _'You have to try this!'_ and you're telling me you haven't?" The sound of bubbling water began to get awkward, so Galen continued, "The only thing that makes sense to me is that Chandrila was out of coffee." He turned to Leia, eyebrow raised.

"Well..." Leia gulped, "perhaps he never even went to a cafe when he was home."

Galen flicked open the cabinet door, pushing over some mugs in the front until he found what he was looking for tucked all the way in the back. A Galaxy's Edge Chandrila mug, the planet's name in cursive with pictures of rolling hills of balmgrass, blue butterflies, crystal canyons, and tiny yet obviously tall buildings of the capital Hanna City. Galen slammed it down in front of Leia, causing her to jump. 

Other than the jump, Leia hadn't moved, keeping her eyes on the mug. "What are the broken pieces inside?" 

"That _was_ a Hanna City mug. Ben threw it against the wall when his mother sent him back here." The water pot beeped, signaling the water was ready. Galen pushed the button to pour it into one of the mugs. "We got him throwing rocks into the lake instead now." 

Leia poked around the broken pieces, picking up a large piece that was once part of an image of the Chandrila Senate House.

"Dad, put that away before Ben sees it! It was in the back for a reason." Jyn called over from the stove where she was checking the gumbo still simmering. 

Galen never even noticed his daughter come back into the kitchen. "How is Ben, by the way?" 

"Mum! I hope you didn't burn it." Hux ran into the kitchen from the dinning room. "Ben is trying to become one with the fresher floor and Rey is helping Aster with his _issue_ , but nothing is happening." He lifted the lid on the pot, seemingly happy with the contents and nodding to himself.

"Potty training, Starfighter. What is with you and your sister not saying words you find strange?" Jyn smacked Hux's hands away from the pot. "I'm sorry, Leia. Dinner will be a little late tonight."

Leia held up two broken pieces of mug, trying to fit them together. "Oh, that's alright. It's probably my fault it's late in the first place."

No one said anything in response to that. Galen decided to fill the awkward pause in conversation by loudly stirring some sugar into one of the mugs of tea.

"Am I the only normal Solo here?" Han stood in the entrance to the kitchen from the dinning room, hands on hips. "Aster is sitting on his potty singing about porgs and Ben's bottom half is hanging out of the fresher because he's too tall to lay on the whole floor." He grunted when no one said anything. "What's going on in here?" He walked over to Galen and Leia by the counter, peering over Leia's shoulder at the mug pieces in her hands.

"I was thinking I could glue this back together?" Leia asked. "If that's alright with everyone. It looks like all the pieces are here."

"What are you gonna do with a broken mug? You won't be able to drink from it," Han pointed out.

"It's about the symbolism," Hux chimed in from where he was leaning against the kitchen island, arms crossed. "A broken relationship put back together, but it will never be the same. Especially fitting too that Ben broke his homeworld mug with a picture of the Senate on it."

Leia flinched.

"Mum, where's the glue?" Hux pushed off the counter and dug into one of the island's drawers. "Why is this a mess?" He held up a pizza takeout menu. "This doesnt go in here."

Jyn nudged Hux out of the way, quite a feat considering how tall he is. "It's a junk drawer. Things without a place go in there." 

"This menu," Hux shook it, "goes in the file over there." He pointed to a small slotted organizer on the counter near the hot water pot. "Organized alphabetically and by type."

Jyn ignored him, continuing to dig through the drawer.

"Mum!"

"Go put it over there, then. You won't feel better until it's organized like my spice rack. "Jyn victoriously pulled out a small tube of glue. "Aha!"

Hux stomped over to the menu organizer. "You had the paprika next to the allspice." He started flipping through the menus, a frown on his face. "None of this is right." He lifted the organizer, dumping out all the menus and muttering to himself as he put them in order.

Jyn waved Leia over while Galen went back to stirring the tea. "Why don't you bring those pieces over here? There's a bit more room."

Leia carefully placed the broken pieces back into the Chandrila mug while Han took the steaming mugs of Chandrilan tea over to the kitchen island.

"I can help," Ben spoke up softly from his spot leaning against the door jamb. "I was the one who broke it, afterall." He pushed himself off the wall, shuffling into the kitchen with his hands tucked into his front pockets. 

Jyn wrapped her arms around Ben and squeezed before he sat down on one of the stools. "We'll leave the two of you to it then." 

"But–" Han was cut off when Jyn grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him to the dinning room.

Galen picked up his cane from where he left it leaning against the cabinet next to him and slowly followed Jyn and Han. "Armitage!" he called from the entrance when the younger man didn't follow.

"Fine, fine." Hux pushed the menu organizer back into place. "I'm done anyway." He hurried in the same direction as the others, but not before he sent one final and unmissed glare to Leia. 

Galen quietly slid closed the double doors to the kitchen to give mother and son some privacy.

"Aster porg, doo doo doo doo doo doo. Aster porg, doo doo doo doo doo doo." Aster sang from inside the fresher.

Galen looked to Rey who was sitting in a chair next to the fresher's open door, banging her head against the wall. "He hasn't...." he trailed off, twirling his finger, "yet?"

Rey groaned. "No. He cries whenever Dad tries to move him, but he won't go. I don't know what to do."

"Aster! Beep beep!" Hux sat cross-legged in front of the open door, waving a droid toy in each hand. "Come play!"

"I go poops! Mama porg, doo doo doo doo doo doo," Aster continued singing.

"Dammit!" Hux cursed, dropping his arms to his sides.

Galen sat down in his chair at the table with a heavy sigh. He was getting too old for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the characters in this story have kept their canon birth years, so I guessed that put Galen Erso around 90 in this timeline?
> 
> I've got maybe four endings planned for this story. Any guesses how it will go? I think we're nearing the end, though sometimes things don't go as planned once I start fleshing out the writing. Maybe a couple more chapters, but could be more.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	12. Colors Bleed and Blend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while! I didn't have much time to write until about a week ago, but the good news is I also started the next chapter so hopefully I can get that up quicker.

At the soft yet ominous click of the kitchen door closing, Leia flinched slightly. Now that she was here and alone with her son just as she had been wanting for years, she didn't want to be _here_. She still wasn't entirely sure how their relationship got to the point of struggling to be alone in a room together, but after a week of reflection she was starting to piece it all together like this broken mug she asked to fix. Ben didn't seem too eager either, simply sitting on the stool with a furrowed brow, the occaisional clink of fitting together broken mug pieces filling the silence. Leia's eyes danced all over his form, taking him in. He had grown into a man from the boy she remembered and she missed it.

Ben's eyes flashed up to his mother as if he could hear her thoughts, but he still appeared to not want to say anything.

Leia cleared her throat and nudged a colorful mug with the name _Rey_ in swooping letters on it closer to Ben. "We made you some tea."

Ben froze, staring at the mug. "This is Rey's," he said, picking it up and sniffing the contents.

"Galen picked the mug. I picked the tea," Leia shrugged a shoulder.

"She likes putting her name on things." Ben's lips quirked up in a barely there smile before he took a sip. "Chandrilan tea? I haven't had this in years."

"It helped when you were a child, so I thought..." Leia trailed off, coming around the counter to sit next to Ben. She picked up a couple pieces of broken mug, fiddling with them.

Ben sighed and put his mug down. "I had nightmares, remember? I would wake up scared and alone because my parents weren't there. And... the thought of it happening again..." his thought trailed off into a sip from his mug.

"I was doing what I thought was best, you know," Leia commented after taking a sip from her own mug. It was a Theed Galaxy's Edge mug with a picture of the palace and scatterings of milla flowers. "I wanted you to grow up in a galaxy safer than the one I grew up in."

Ben stared intently at the two small mug pieces he was pressing together as if his glare could instantly dry the glue. "Other senators went _home_. All the time. They used to talk to me when I waited for you outside _another_ meeting." He swallowed thickly. "They were going home and I was still waiting. Why couldn't I travel with Dad?"

Leia shook her head. "Flying around the galaxy on the Falcon was no environment for a child. We've been over this. Many times." And they had up until the day Leia dropped Ben off with his uncle when he was 10 years old.

"You didn't have to help the entire galaxy by yourself." Ben continued, ignoring her response.

"I know, but–"

"No. You don't." Ben turned his eyes from the probably dry pieces in his hands to look at his mother. "You only needed to help one person. _Your son_."

Leia held his angry gaze until he looked away, trying different pieces to fit with the ones he just glued. "I know that now."

Ben was quiet a moment, the only sound being the clinking of ceramic pieces. "A bit late, don't you think?"

Hopefully it wasn't too late. Maybe being here was evidence that it wasn't. 

"And the worst part," Ben chuckled without humor, "is the galaxy has only gotten _worse_. The centrists gain more and more power each year. Why wait until I'm an adult to retire? What did all that time spent working get you?" Ben turned to look down at Leia, eyebrow raised. Even seated, he still towered over her.

"Why do you think Threepio isn't here?" Leia turned to look up at Ben, also raising an eyebrow. He must've gotten that inquisitive _answer me now_ stare from her. "He stayed behind coordinating efforts with the Alderaan and Gatalenta Senate delegations. His experience with a fresh leadership perspective might be exactly what we need to hold off the First Order. We hope." Leia looked down at the broken mug pieces on the counter top in front of her. While Ben was gluing them one at a time, she had them laid out like a puzzle. "I get weekly updates from them."

"Oh," Ben simply said, though the small word sounded loaded with hidden meaning.

"Oh? Just _oh_?" Leia huffed out a breath and lifted her not broken Theed mug to her lips, taking a sip. "You're a lawyer and that's the only word you can come up with?"

Ben reached over for one of the mug pieces in front of her, testing it for fit along the side of his larger glued section. "Yeah. Oh. As in _oh_ so you finally know what a weekly update is. Retirement has done wonders for you."

Leia cringed, gently setting her mug down before she dropped it and they had another one to fix. "I deserve that."

"You just..." Ben clenched his fists on the countertop. "I don't want to talk about this."

"Ben," Leia stilled his hand that reached over to the mug pieces in front of her. "you never want to talk about how you're feeling. Talk to me."

Ben paused, staring at his mother's hand on his. "Maybe I've only ever needed my mom to hug me and say _I'm sorry_. Take my side for once instead of Luke's." He pulled his hand away. "I never burned anything."

"Oh." Leia looked down, clasping her hands in her lap. She hadn't thought much on it over the years, but with each passing day on Naboo she was beginning to believe her and Luke had it wrong about that fire. The timing fit, though. Ben was angry with his uncle because he wouldn't sign his permission slip to visit Otoh Gunga and a few days later, Luke's martial arts school burned down. That's what she told herself when she sent Ben that angry message about it, ignoring the nagging feeling in her gut that something was wrong.

"I bet Luke never told you the fire was started while I was gone. My ship arrived a few hours later." Ben tilted his head to stare up at the ceiling. "He had the authorities check the travel logs _three times_."

"What?" Leia looked wide eyed at her grown boy next to her. 

"I almost lost my spot at the university while the allegations were investigated, but Jyn and Galen spoke up for me." Ben shrugged a shoulder. "I ended up going to Corusant, though. I wanted to get away from here."

Leia slumped her shoulders. "So that's why you're not Gungan rights lawyer? I was so surprised when I read your bio on the holonet." That's all Ben talked about after he moved to Naboo. He became fascinated with the Gungan natives. Their cities, their culture, everything. He wanted to help them and the humans of Naboo to live peacefully together. The law program was only available at universities on Naboo. So when Leia searched Ben's name on the holonet before she arrived, her nervous excitement at discovering he lived in Theed was dashed by the specialty next to his name: interplanetary space law, or law that dealt with the use of open space between planets such as trade and ship accidents. It was a specialty that could be practiced on any planet and probably, if the rumors were true, be extremely useful to a First Order enforcer. But Leia couldn't worry about that right now. 

"You looked me up?" Ben's eyes, now a tinge angry, snapped down to Leia. "Is that why you're here?"

"I thought you wanted to visit the Gungan capital more than anything," Leia shook her head, ignoring Ben's questioning gaze.

"Luke wouldn't sign my permission slip!" Ben banged a fist on the countertop, causing the mug pieces to rattle. "Some karking shit about me needing to watch the younger foster kids that weekend, but in the end I never watched them anyway because I never went back!"

Leia was sure if flames could come out of a human head, they would be shooting up to the ceiling from her son's head right now. "First of all, language–" She ignored Ben's scoff, continuing, "and second, I told you that I was leaving the decision with him as your guardian on Naboo and that you would have a chance to visit later in university as part of your law program."

"I worked hard for that, Mom! I spent hours on my paper. I never asked to be a babysitter."

It was Leia's turn to chuckle without humor. "You always wanted a sibling. Well, there you go!"

"One MY AGE!"

"But your wife is 10 years younger than you?"

Ben quickly leaned away as if Leia's question physically shocked him. "Is that your problem with Rey?" he asked, voice tinted more with sadness than anger now.

"Ben..." Leia tried reaching for Ben's hand, but he pulled away. "I don't have a problem with Rey, but," she pursed her lips, "you got an 18 year old girl pregnant."

"Woman and I'm not going to let you lecture me when you're 10 years younger than Dad," Ben said as he hopped off his stool. "This," he jabbed a finger at the broken mug pieces still scattered on the counter, "isn't fixable."

The door to the dining room opened and Hux rushed in holding out a flailing, crying toddler. "Take this!" he said when he got close to the kitchen island. 

"What happened?" Ben asked, making shushing noises as he took the boy in his arms. 

Hux huffed out a breath, placing his hands on his hips. "Our fathers and my mum are cowards, so I got to be the bad guy and force your child off the..." He waved a hand, trailing off. "He's mad because he's insisting he has _to go_."

Aster, scrunched up face and crying, squirmed in his father's arms. "I go poops!"

Leia swiveled around in her seat to give them some privacy, going back to fixing the broken mug. It was almost done, Ben having already glue a lot of the pieces together and the rest organized on the countertop. She picked up one of those pieces and started gluing.

"Can you get Rey?" Ben asked, struggling with the kicking and crying toddler as he made his way to a cabinet. "I think he's hungry. We've usually eaten dinner by now."

"She wasn't sure..." Hux trailed off.

"No, it's fine." Ben set Aster on the floor, unable to spare an arm to open the cabinet while holding his upset son. "We're done." He tossed a quick glance over to Leia before taking a box from the cabinet. "This is my fault." Ben set the box on the counter next to him before scooping Aster back up. "Daddy's sorry."

Leia watched them with great interest, fondly remembering the days when Ben was small enough for Han to sooth in much the same way. Ben loved to be hugged close and it seemed her grandson did too. So focused she was on them, she missed Rey come into the kitchen. 

Rey dumped what looked like tiny fish crackers into her palm and held it out to her son. "Are you hungry?"

Aster nodded, seemingly perked up, and took a cracker from his mother's hand. 

"Daddy's hungry too." Ben smiled down at Rey with a cheeky teasing smile. 

Rey lightly smacked his arm with a roll of her eyes. "I'm not feeding you." She handed a bright orange sippy cup to Aster.

"More, pease," Aster asked after Ben set him on his feet, one hand gripping his cup and the other making a grabby motion to the crackers in Rey's hand. She passed him one and he took it, munching happily.

"Would you like to play with Grandpa's friend after dinner?" Rey asked Aster, nudging him towards the dinning room. He nodded, sipping from his cup.

Ben watched them go, a small smile tugging at his lips, before he wandered back over to the kitchen island and leaned on his arms on the opposite side. "Huh. I guess it looks fixed," he commented, looking at the glued mug on the counter. 

"Just this last piece." Leia put some glue along a broken edge and attached the final broken piece at the top, the tip of a blue butterfly wing. "Are you sure he should be snacking so close to dinner?" 

"Mom," Ben sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"You're right. Nevermind." Leia let go of the mug, now glued back together. It still had some cracks and chips and it would never be as it once was, but it was whole again. She thought about what she had learned recently and seeing Ben comfort his own child as she got down from her stool, walking around the counter. She had done things her way for so long. Maybe it was time to try his. She reached up, tilting Ben's face to her. "We failed you, Ben. I'm sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben's law specialty is based on maritime law, only it's for space instead of oceans? I wasn't sure what to call it because we obviously don't have that here, but I hope it makes sense.
> 
> I have not updated the chapter count, but the next chapter will probably be the last. I may or may not write some one shots to go with this. I have some ideas and some deleted scene bits too. 
> 
> Next chapter will take place the next day. Thanks for reading!


	13. Feels So Paper-thin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus flashback chapter. This takes place with the events in the flashback from chapter 2, the day Ben met Rey.

**3 Years Earlier**

Once dinner was finished and the dishes washed, Ben and the Andor family gathered in the kitchen to make some coffee and tea. Ben hadn't been in this kitchen in years, since the day he packed up and left for college on Corusant. Struggling with the overwhelming feeling of home, he sat at the kitchen island looking over the collection of colorful mugs on the countertop and lifted one up curiously. It was... huge. The biggest mug Ben had ever seen and covered in colorful splatters. But the strangest part? It had his name on it in big, uneven letters.

"You found it!" Rey stood on the other side of the counter smiling.

"How could I not?" Ben chuckled, setting the mug back down. "It's huge."

"I heard you really liked the coffee at Galaxy's Edge, so..." Rey trailed off, looking down shyly. 

"Rey painted all of these at one of those pottery painting shops." Hux placed a box of tea and a hot water pot on the countertop before hopping up on a stool next to Ben. "This one is mine." He reached over for a burgundy and gray horizontal stiped mug with the phrase _You're my cup of tea!_ in messy black letters on the side then twisted it around for Ben to see the other side, pointing at the equally messy black letters spelling _Hux_. "See?" 

"Don't artists usually sign the bottom?" Ben asked, a little confused. Maybe the Andors didn't want to mix up their mugs. 

"Not Rey." Jyn came over with a pot of coffee and set it on the counter. "She likes putting her name on everything." She squeezed her daughter's shoulders before walking away.

"The other kids at Plutt's orphanage on Jakku would steal my things," Rey explained with a slight frown. "So I put my name on everything I owned so they knew it was mine." She paused, scrunching up her face. " _'I don't see your name on it!'_ That's what they used to tell me."

Ben swallowed thickly, looking out the window. "So... you made me a mug? With my name on it so no one will steal it?" He asked once he found his voice.

"Of course!" Rey beamed up at him, taking the box of tea her brother offered her and removing a teabag. "You're part of the family. Everyone has one." She dropped the teabag in her equally color splattered mug, only this one was much smaller and had her name on it. "But I didn't know your favorite color, so I used all of them. I hope that's ok."

All Ben could do was nod his head. It was more than ok. This might be the nicest gift he has ever received. Rey beamed up at him again while Hux poured some water into her mug. Ben picked his up again, running his fingers over the colors. "Wait... are these flowers?" The details were gorgeous and much neater than the writing.

"Oh boy..." Hux rolled his eyes playfully then hopped off his stool, giving Ben a pat on the shoulder. "You should know that my sister is a walking flower encyclopedia. Good luck." He took a sip from his mug and walked away.

Rey came around to Ben's side of the counter and sat on her brother's vacant stool. "They're aster flowers."

Ben expected more of an explanation based on Hux's warning. He traced the edges of some pink petals then turned to look at her. "Why an aster flower?"

Rey swiveled in her seat, twirling a lock of hair. "They symbolize love and faith and..." She let out a breath, turning the mug in Ben's hands.

" _I end not far from my going forth  
By picking the faded blue  
Of the last remaining aster flower  
To carry to you._" Ben read the small, messy black cursive writing. 

"It's from the poem _A Late Walk_ ", Rey spoke softly after a moment, "and that flower is–"

"The brightest thing he sees on his walk, but not until the very end," Ben interrupted, finishing her sentence. "Why did you put them on yours?" He nodded to the mug in her hands. She was close enough that he could see she used the same flowers on her own mug.

"Aster flowers are drought tolerant," Rey explained with a smile. "Like me." She had told him as she showed him around the greenhouse about her upbringing, more like lack of upbringing, during her few years left on the desert planet Jakku. It was dry. Very, very dry and bland and lonely. Yet here Rey sat healthy, happy, and...

"Yeah," Ben agreed with a quirk of a smile. "Beautiful just like you."

"You know they say if you're gifted an aster flower, you can make a wish." Rey, cheeks flushed, went back to twirling her hair.

Ben's eyes locked on hers, unable to look away. "Like blowing out candles on a birthday cake?"

Rey nodded.

"Ok." Ben clasped the mug tightly in both hands, squeezing his eyes shut. He wished for so many things and all of them involved this young woman next to him who understood him better with a mug than anyone else he had ever met. Wish made for a future with her, he opened his eyes. "Rey, will—"

"You can't tell me!" Rey cut him off with a playful shove. "It won't come true if you tell me."

"I wasn't going to tell you," Ben defended as he gently put the mug down. He had no intention of ever breaking this one. "I was just wondering, do you maybe want to go get coffee with me? There's this place–"

"Galaxy's Edge?" Rey finished for him. "I would love to."

Ben took Rey's hand and squeezed. "How did you know?"

Rey lifted up the coffee pot with her free hand and poured some liquid... a lot of liquid, actually... into Ben's mug. "I heard it was your favorite." Right. She already said that.

The mug was so big, Ben needed more than his usual one lump of sugar. He reluctanly let go of Rey's hand, stirring it in and lifting the mug with _both hands_ before gently blowing on the top and taking a sip. "Wait..." He paused, looking into the mug. First Jyn made his favorite dinner, then she made him his favorite coffee? 

"Mum went all oooover Theed to shop for dinner after she dropped you off at the greenhouse earlier." Rey told him, lifting her mug to her lips and blowing. "We haven't had that coffee fresh in this house in years. There's an old bag of beans stuffed in the back of a cabinet with a broken mug, but," she leaned into him to whisper, "we don't talk about that."

Ben frowned into his mug. He didn't want to think about the day he broke that mug either, but he was surprised the Andors kept it. Just once he wished his mother would take his side. That's why he never answered her message, leaving it to his dad to ask everyone to leave him alone. Not even after the authorities cleared him of starting that fire. Why should he have to defend his innocence to his mother? There wasn't a single compassionate word in Leia's message. Not even a _'Tell me what happened.'_ that you would expect from a normally patient senator who wants to hear what others have to say. Ben thought cutting her out of his life would help, but he has still felt all the anger inside all these years later.

"I can practically hear you thinking," Rey commented next to him.

"It's nothing." Ben took a sip of his coffee, gathering his thoughts. "I was mad at my mom, so I threw that mug at the wall. Why do the people who should support us always let us down the most?"

"I get it." Rey bobbed her head in agreement. "I waited so long for my parents to come back for me, but each lonely day I checked off on the wall was another disappointment. But," Rey nudged Ben with her elbow, waiting until he looked at her to finish, "I learned that family can find you anywhere when you least expect it. My parents did come for me, just not how I thought they would... or _who_. Maybe it's the same for you."

Ben looked away from Rey's understanding eyes to the design on his mug. He traced the black letters of his name that swooped over the light purple aster flowers Rey had painted, feeling like that lone bright flower in the darkness from the poem. "Yeah. I think you're right."

So one day 20 weeks later when Ben accompanied Rey to her physician's appointment, they didn't hesitate when they were told they were having a boy. They clasped each other's hands over her rounded belly and spoke one word together, "Aster." It wasn't the home Ben desparately clung to having with his parents or a magic cure for all the hurt not having it caused, but maybe this bit of brightness led him to the family he was meant to have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poem Rey wrote on Ben's mug is the final stanza from "A Late Walk" by Robert Frost. I wanted to give some backstory to Rey's mug from the last chapter and their son's name.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	14. See It All so Clear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took much longer than I had said last chapter! But here it is finally.... The last chapter to my first ever completed story. This might have been harder than posting the first. It's a strange feeling bringing things to an end.

"He dumped out his bucket of droid toys, showed her how to fly his new toy ship from the museum, and then," Rey wiped some amused tears from her eyes, "and then he took her by the hand to show her his potty!" She buried her face in her hands, laughing.

Rose giggled in her seat at Galaxy's Edge across from Rey. It was Monday morning and they were meeting there before work. Rey, Ben, Finn, Hux, and Rose, that is. Poe was already at the spaceport preparing for a flight. "At least _someone_ had a good day."

"Yeah," Rey replied once her laughter died down. "I'm pretty sure he forgot that his ship broke earlier or that he didn't actually use the potty, but he went to bed happy. Exhausted, but happy." 

"And you? Did Milla let you and Ben sleep last night?" Rose asked.

Rey nodded, placing a hand on her belly. "We were so tired, nothing would have kept us awake. _Nothing._ " Suddenly, a tray of steaming mugs, a teapot, and muja muffins was set in front of her and Rey audibly squealed. "Finally!"

Ben chuckled, taking a seat next to his wife. "It's only been a week, Scavenger." He leaned in for a lingering kiss on the lips.

"Don't call me that," Rey mumbled after pulling away slightly, then leaned in to deepen the kiss. She didn't mean it, but it was her response to Ben every time he called her Scavenger. It was a name he gave her not long after she moved in with him, grabbing an old sock he was about to throw away and turning it into their son's first doll with some random items she found around the house. _"What are you, a scavenger?"_

Finn put down his own tray, taking a seat next to Rose. "Ugh, don't do that in front of the muffins."

"Hey, she's about to ignore me for tea." Ben pouted once they separated. He plucked a lump of sugar from the bowl on their table and stirred it into his coffee.

"I won't ignore you." Rey set down her own spoon and wrapped her hands around her mug, thoroughly taking in the warm spiced tea goodness. "Alright, maybe in little." She took a small sip as the liquid was still quite hot. "This is divine."

"Rey was just telling me how Aster showed Leia his potty." Rose took a chunk off a muffin and popped it in her mouth.

Finn loudly guffawed. "I love that kid!"

Ben shook his head. "A potty he hasn't used except as a singing throne."

"Ben," Rey put down her mug, "we have nothing to worry about. Leia said you did the same thing until one of your many times showing _Unca Wanwo_ , you also showed him how to use it."

"Unca Wanwo!" Finn grabbed some napkins from the stack and dabbed at the mirthful tears in his eyes. 

Ben, bright red probably all the way to the tips of his ears hiding under his hair, tossed a piece of muffin at Finn across the table. "Shut up."

"So," Rose started after her giggles died down, "You didn't say much in your message. Is Leia not coming back here?"

"Something like that," Ben mumbled into the rim of his mug.

"Mum is taking one for the team," Rey added at Rose's confused look. "She, Poe's mum, and Leia formed a coffee club of sorts. She's going to help her find her own spot."

"Also known as.... not this one," Ben added with a bit of frustration. 

"Maybe," Rose's eyes darted back-and-forth between the couple across the table, "maybe she needs friends? How many friends does anyone have in the Senate?" She shivered and sat back.

Finn plopped his cup down. "Euunngghh?" He imitated Rose's shiver wiggle. "What does that mean?"

"Look," Rose sat up a bit straighter, "the Senate probably isn't the nicest place. Leia spent all her time there arguing with other senators, right? No one's friends with their political enemies. They would use you for all your _secrets_." She whispered that last word.

"She's friends with Amilyn Holdo," Ben said. "Gatalenta's senator. They've been friends since they were teenagers."

"And she's not here," Rose pointed out. "Everyone, even bad mothers, needs a friend." 

"Someone not afraid to point out when they're being a bad mother?" Ben asked, mug hovering in front of his lips.

Finn looked around the table with a confused expression. "Didn't you fix things at dinner last night?"

Ben swallowed his mouthful of coffee before answering. "You don't just _'fix'_ a kriffed up relationship. We cleared some things up and she apologized but..." he trailed off with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Sooooo, no big happy Life Day family party, I take it?" Rose asked, frowning slightly.

"No," was all Ben simply answered.

Rey, first cup of tea empty, decided it was her turn to contribute to the conversation. "We're not telling Aster she's his grandmother. At least not yet."

"What?" Finn asked after taking a sip of what was probably his usual frappe. "Why?"

Ben glared at the cup in Finn's hand as if it had personally offended him. "I don't know how you drink that thing in the morning. It's practically dessert."

"Luke says the same thing." Finn smacked a hand over his mouth. "Sorry," came the muffled apology. Remembering that his foster father was Ben's uncle was going to take some getting used to.

Rey put her hand on Ben's elbow to stop him from jumping across the table at hearing his uncle's name. She didn't think he would actually do it. Maybe. "Anyway... Ben's not ready. We'll tell him eventually." Rey felt a bit guilty keeping this from her son, but he was only two so they felt they had some time yet. 

"Mom wasn't happy when we didn't introduce her as...." Ben trailed off, scrunching his nose like he had just tasted a poor imitation of Naboo roast, "grandma... She was about to get in a fight with us before we left over her getting her _grandchildren_ Life Day gifts, but thankfully Aster was asleep so we were obviously in a hurry to leave."

Rey rubbed her hands together excitedly, ready to pour a second cup of tea. Leia Organa was not going to put a damper on her morning. "We told her to respect our wishes or she won't get to see us."

A screech of chair legs being dragged across the floor made Rey jump. It was her brother making all that noise. Hux plopped himself down in the chair he had dragged to the end of the table. "I already told you both that you have to tell him. Now. Pass the sugar, sis." 

"He's already at daycare now, so..." Rey trailed off with a shrug, nudging the bowl of sugar to Hux.

"You know what I mean." Hux dropped one lump of sugar into his tea and began stirring, his spoon making a light clinking sound. "My nephew is as smart as his uncle–"

"That's you," Rose cut him off.

"Exactly." Hux took a careful sip of his tea. "If you keep this from him too long, he'll be confused and upset."

Rey turned to look at Ben, who was turned away from their table to gaze out the window, and cringed. "I suppose..."

After a small awkward silence, Rose picked up a napkin from the pile, dabbing her eye. "Gosh, guys. I didn't expect this to be so sad."

"It's really not." Ben disagreed with a shake of his head. "I'm ok with it. Letting the past die. I'll always love my mom, but some things hurt too much and I have a more important mother to focus on now." He wrapped an arm around Rey's shoulders and kissed the side of her head.

Finn lightly clapped. "Real smooth, Solo."

Rey thought so too, as evidenced by the tears coming from her eyes. "That was beautiful." She turned her head to kiss him then mumbled against his lips, "I love you, Ben."

"I love you too, Scavenger," Ben replied, resting his forehead against Rey's. 

"Don't call me that."

"This planet is one of healing, Rose," Ben sat back, ignoring Rey's objection as always, and explained. "It helped me twice and Rey when she was a child. If my mom hadn't shown up last night, that healing process wouldn't have begun because I was still too angry. But now," he turned to Rey with a slight smile, "we're all going to be ok."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that this ending came across as I planned. Ben got his closure and maybe he'll see his mother sometimes, maybe rarely. You can almost take it how you want. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, comment, and leave kudos. I don't know what my plans are after this. If I had the energy and SW knowledge, I would do a sequel with them taking down the First Order. I had a whole backstory for Rey that never fit in here.
> 
> I have some ideas for oneshots, though, so we'll see!


End file.
